Micro condos are set to be real estate’s next big thing

This year may come to be known as “the year the micro condo really took off.”

This year may come to be known as “the year the micro condo really took off.” With more single people wanting homes and higher prices making some of our cities unaffordable for single income and low income households small may well prove to be a beautiful solution. Demand is being driven though by investors who see an opportunity to add the small but perfectly formed homes onto the rental market, targeted at young professionals who spend most of their lives at work or socialising and are happy to come home to 500 square feet of living space. Shaun Hildebrand of Urbanation told The Huffington Post that the return on investment is often better for micro condos that the rest of the market with rents of $3 per square foot rather than around $2.60. He says that while the potential for a micro-condo boom will be watched closely it won’t become a reality until the units are more widely available: “Sometimes we don't know how strong demand is until we're shown the supply." Mortgages are not easy to secure for small units currently which may limit the growth of the sector to cash buyers, however those with equity in other properties may be tempted into the market.  Read the full story.