The Changing Face Of Home Ownership During The Australian Housing Bubble: My Trip To The Brisbane Home Show

Yesterday we went along to the Home Show, a large exposition of all sorts of housing and home related businesses and providers in the Convention Centre in Brisbane.

To be honest, the single draw card for us was the tiny-home exhibit; something we see as a future solution to the issue of unaffordable prices. The lady who we purchased our tickets from at the door chuffed to herself when I asked where the tiny homes were; I got the impression that I was not the first to have asked.

My first impression is that the show was extremely popular. There are a lot of property focused people in Australia; here, property is a religion. This is just one of the entrances mid way through the day.

It was the highlight of the show. There was a queue to go through the house. The one on display was actually one of their portable (trailer mounted) models. Simplistic, but livable. You'd have to be minimalist but it'd work. Think of a studio apartment with very little storage.

the queue to see the tiny home up close

Interestingly, you can option these with solar and septic systems. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable driving something that tall and square on the road however and really I'd want to look at caravans which can be quite luxurious too. Prices are comparable.

What I didn't expect was the number of alternative offerings. There was a company with a display that makes similarly sized log cabins which were quite unique and cosy. The wood theme was carried throughout the home including little wooden inserts in the taps. The wood fire pace was a lovely touch.

Additionally, there's a local firm that builds custom designed homes for around 2k per square metre that are built offsite and installed on stirrups cemented into the ground. You can opt for multi story, anything you want really. We were really impressed and would definitely opt for something like this over a conventional bloated house.

I see the industry moving in this direction. It's already a smooth process. These builders will deal with council approval and already have waiting lists out the end of this year. The conventional house is on its last legs. The pricing distortions have given birth to a new industry of custom, modular designs manufactured off site resulting in an on-site build time that's half that of a conventional build.

That said, the price of land is still prohibitive but it's nice to see the market innovating.