DYOR : Build your own Home- $1.2mn

DYOR : Build your own Home- $1.2mn construction cost / SCMP article


First-time buyers offered flatpack kit homes in the Netherlands


With developers put off by economic crisis, Dutch and Britons looking to own their homes are being offered architecturally designed kit houses


If you like spending time in the greenhouse and following the sun throughout the day, you might opt for the Hayhouse; or if you're more drawn to the idea of a cosy Scandinavian log cabin, maybe the Deckhouse is for you.


Choosing your dream home has become as simple as picking furniture from the Ikea catalogue for residents of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where a neighbourhood of affordable architect- designed kit houses has just been launched.


Aimed at first-time buyers, the city's "I build affordable in Nijmegen" initiative (IbbN) has paired 20 architects with building companies to produce about 30 designs - from detached timber cabins to redbrick terraced houses - with a construction cost of €115,000 (HK$1.2 million).


Anyone with an annual income of between €30,000 and €47,000 is eligible to apply for an IbbN loan, while all costs are fixed from the beginning, removing the usual danger of ballooning budgets and long delays when building your own, untested house. Designed to be manufactured from prefabricated parts, in close collaboration with the builder, the flatpack kits are delivered to the site and can be assembled within six to eight weeks.

. . .

In the docks of Middlesbrough in northeast Englad, on the site of a stalled regeneration project, an area has been set aside for self-build, with a competition launched for innovative ideas, while parts of London's Olympic site could be given over to up to 100 self-build homes. So could flatpack kit housing be part of the answer? "System-building makes it so much easier," said Ted Stevens, of the National Self Build Association.


"Rather than giving people an entirely blank piece of paper, it's like a big menu with options to choose from. A lot of people are put off self-build because of the uncertainty involved, but this way the price and delivery time are guaranteed -making the process much more like buying a car."


It is also much cheaper: by cutting out the developer's profit, the average self-built house in the UK costs just 60 per cent of its final value to build


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/more: http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1233124/first-time-buyers-offered-flatpack-kit-homes-netherlands

Build your own home?


Sure. But you need Land to do that.

And "greenfield", agricultural land (costing maybe $200-400 psf) is not good enough, since you cannot build on it.


Today's The Standard, talks about "brownfield" (former industrial) land:


Battle rages for brownfield sites


Staff reporter / May 09, 2013


Property developers and investors are eyeing brownfield sites in Yuen Long South where the government plans to develop 200 hectares of uninhabited land into subsidized housing units.

Private developers started snapping up the about 1,000 brownfield sites located along Kung Um Road in Tai Tong from individual owners years ago...

. . .

A property owner on Tai Tong Shan Road said people have been interested in buying his sites for the past decade. Another said some developers have attempted to entice landlords who hold small house concessionary rights in the district to exchange those rights for new village houses.


"I was offered one of their three completed village houses if I surrendered my rights," said an indigenous resident, surnamed Leung, in Tai Tong. Leung, who operates Wai Kee Canteen, said developers are assured of sound returns when they sell completed village houses.


"They could reap up to 50 percent profit if they sell houses for HK$10 million each," he said. "They acquire land from villagers for around HK$1,000 per square foot, and spend about HK$2 million for construction."


He expects prices of those village- type development zone sites to double in the next two years - especially those near the road intersection - which currently cost HK$500 to HK$1,000 psf.

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/more: http://thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=16&art_id=133548&sid=39633679&con_type=3&d_str=20130509&fc=7