Ikea Takes The Next Step: Prebuilt Houses

The Aktiva (Via)

I've kind of found out that I'm part of an odd generation that grew up in the middle of economic crises, housing economy meltdowns and other events that have led me to feel very wary about the concept of financing a house for 20-30 years. Knowing the amount of dishonest practices that we've been hearing about for a few years now to get home owners to dive into an unsafe investment, who'd want that type of stress? Well I was kind of happy to hear that Ikea had finally taken that next step, creating pre-designed houses that were somewhat affordable and would be delivered and assembled on land you own. Sure, its not the prettiest looking thing out there but it comes at a realistic price range.

For $86,500 you get a 1 br/1bath unit at 745 sq/feet and those modern Ikea aesthetics you've come to love (Or hate). Now what's exciting for me is the modular potential of a house like this if this concept takes off. Imagine being able to plug extra Ikea branded rooms with different functions into this existing layout, like a 2nd floor bedroom or a dedicated entertainment room. Its too early to tell if they'll go that route but I can see this concept being really appealing to up and coming homeowners. This concept came out of a collaboration between Oregon's Ideabox and Ikea.