Urbis Think Tank
Coming Soon: Flat pack homes for sale at your local supermarket
Tesco housing – an affordability fix?
UK supermarket giant Tesco has moved into the property sector by selling flat pack homes for $15,000 AUS. The self-assembly ‘Helsinki’ log cabins have five rooms, double glazing and a decking area. It can be upgraded to include a guttering ket, laminate flooring and underfloor heating.
Source: bdonline.co.uk
Despite offering a very affordable housing option for many who are otherwise locked out of the owner-occupier market, the movement of Tesco into the DIY kit home space has ignited passion across the UK planning, urban design and architecture fields. Part of the concern is the fear of the retailer expanding its influence on the urban landscape. This position is acerbically put by one architect as follows:
“Tesco already builds large town-centre housing schemes along with its supermarkets, of undeniably low quality. Tesco doesn’t have the best interests of consumers, let alone communities, at heart. A Tesco house bought with a Tesco mortgage on a Tesco plot in a Tesco-managed estate, no doubt with a Tesco Metro on the corner, is a wonderful business model but not a way to make a community.” (click here for source article)
Whilst such vitriol has garnered support amongst certain quarters of the archtectural community, the critique ought to be qualified by accepting that housing affordability is a ‘wicked problem’ faced by cities the world – and as such the broader the range of low to moderate priced housing products available the better.
With market rumours that Westfarmers is investigating mixed-use development models, it may not be too long before Coles brand apartments are on the market here in Australia – or indeed DIY kit homes from Bunnings.