Modern Prefab Homes Are Spread Across The Globe

By Author: Ivan Cuxeva Jr
Total Articles: 779
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Whoever thought that prefab homes could ever become a hot item, but that is what is happening with new modernist prefab home designs. Even ten or fifteen years ago, owning a claustrophobic plastic box home was not considered the height of elegance.

But that is changing rapidly, just like ‘red can become the new black' modern prefab homes have become the latest chic, must have, in housing design. Many top residential architects are now trying their hand at designing eco-friendly, prefab homes.

Demand for these new designer, prefab homes is booming across the globe. Everywhere from Australia to Europe, to North America, people are now turning to housing that is built off-site then brought in to the home owner's lot to be quickly assembled.

Modern prefab homes are suddenly considered to be a mainstream alternative to traditional block and brick structures and have moved a long way from the image of being the only suitable for retired residents in a senior's friendly, Florida development.

Like all great new ideas, modern prefab homes are not actually a new idea; nearly 100 years ago Sears were advertising ...
... ‘mail-order' housing in their catalog, 30 years ago. Japanese developers were selling what they dubbed ‘living capsule's' for Tokyo's land deprived masses.

All over the world architects, designers and large corporations are moving in on eco-friendly prefab homes. One example is trendy Swedish furniture maker Ikea, who built an entire village of modern prefab homes at a place called Boklok in Sweden, all of which were snapped up in by eager buyers, even before construction began.

And in a twist to the prefab home market the company has just started selling ‘flatpacked' apartments to the residents of London for just $140,000, by London standards that is the price of a garage.

Never slow to catch on to a hot new idea, the Japanese company Muji is offering eco friendly prefab homes for around $200,000 fully inclusive of all interior and exterior fittings, again by Japanese standards this is far less than the cost of a minuscule apartment.

In the US, several household name stores are moving into the modern prefab house market, and with good reason. Market research company Freedonia has reported that it expects the market in the US for eco-friendly, prefab homes to reach $15 billion this year. Well-known big-time investors, like Warren Buffett are buying into manufacturing companies that are involved in the production of modern prefab homes.

Many of these new eco-friendly, prefab homes are built using environmentally sustainable materials, previously not considered such as bamboo. An architectural design company down in Australia has gone even further producing a house made of recycled cardboard stuck together with Velcro, for now, that may be a step too far, even for the most eco-friendly, prefab home owner.