In Greater Vancouver, where the average detached house sold for $1.8 million in May and a typical condo apartment for $737,000, a small-house builder is offering perhaps the least expensive – and smallest – house in Canada.
“Our core business is for granny flats and homes for First Nations,” said Chase Lefneski, a spokesman for Dwelltech, which is based in Maple Ridge, where the May benchmark house price was up 34% from a year ago to $1.1 million.
Dwelltech makes three different small houses.
It’s latest offering, the Yocto, is the tiniest: 72 square feet.
“We think it is the smallest complete house in Canada,” Lefneski said.
Despite its compact space, the Yocto comes with full-sized appliances, a closet and a built-in bed and mattress.
The houses come with a 20-year warranty on its roof, walls, doors and windows.
“It is built like a tank. They are made for rough use and to be easily moved as many times as you want,” according to Lefneski.
The small houses sell for $24,900, he noted, and do not require a building permit.
They do, however, need water and power access and hookup to a septic or municipal sewer system.
The Yocto may provide another option for municipalities and community groups trying to house the most vulnerable residents.
In Victoria, a tiny-house village, which converted standard 20-foot shipping containers into 160-square-foot homes, opened May 12 as temporary homes for Victoria’s homeless population.
The 30-unit Aryze Developments project was partly financed with $550,000 raised during a three-month crowdfunding campaign.
The little houses come equipped a bed, side table, a small fridge and armoire, but village residents share communal bathrooms.
In Alberta, the Homes for Heroes Foundation has opened a small-home project meant to house homeless veterans who served in Canada’s armed services.
Some of the 300-square-foot homes, designed with the help of trailer manufacturer Atco Structures, were set up in a 2020 Calgary project.
A second village is being finished in Edmonton. Scheduled to open this fall, it consists of 18 small homes, two accessible homes, an office and an amenity building.
