Tiny homes are a big thing — yes, we appreciate the irony behind that sentence. But, in fact, it’s true. Vertical tiny homes are an architectural trend for this year, you have the ability to buy a tiny home that can be set up within an hour (it’ll set you back about $23K, though), and even IKEA has hopped on the trend.
When it comes to travel, this is another area where tiny homes are huge — metaphorically, of course. According to a piece from Traveller, they’ve become “big business” in the holiday industry, as COVID-19 is “luring many travellers into the countryside to try out simpler, more minimal living.” Did someone say cottagecore?
Some companies, like Designer Eco Tiny Homes, are even opening up in the United Kingdom and America, so far has the trend spread. Other companies, like Tiny Away are looking at expanding nationally, and across the waters to our friends in New Zealand.
Tiny Away has also seen an astronomical increase in bookings following COVID — they informed The Latch directly that as of December 2020, they’ve seen a 660% increase in bookings compared to the first quarter of that year.
Why? As Singapore-based Jeff Yeo, who set up the company, explained to Traveller, “[People] want to be in eco-friendly environments so they can enjoy the clean, fresh air and, especially as it’s so hard to travel abroad, they want to experience other ways of living.”
According to Yeo, “Before COVID, people were renting tiny houses for experiences, like riding horses or harvesting fruit or enjoying amazing views.” But now? “Now they’re looking for accommodation close to nature, away from crowds, out of cities.”
In terms of where these tiny houses are located that people are so desperately seeking out? Tiny Away tells us that “houses that are close to cities but secluded and isolated have proved very popular”, listing places like “the Blue Mountains, Wolgon Valley, Hawkesbury, Barrington Tops in NSW and Great Ocean Road and Mornington Peninsula in VIC.”
It’s not just travellers and tourists that are interested in tiny homes either — home buyers are also getting on board. In the second half of 2020, Tiny Away saw enquiries by people interested in owning a tiny home jump as much as 30%.
You better jump on board before someone snags that tiny travel home from right under your nose.
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