401340FF-C5CA-452D-BCC4-4CC11E3E369D.jpeg


 
DiscoStu said:
Some of these units are starting to rival my old 200sf Brooklyn shitbox in size.

But not my problem I guess....that exterior does look great!
Click to expand...
The unit in the photo above is probably not much larger than 200 sq ft maybe 350 sq ft as it looks to have a room off to the left also, but with those large windows the unit will feel roomy for its size.
 
The size of units question is an interesting one. I assume the market in Calgary for the tiny apartments is small, but so is existing supply. I recommend people follow https://doodles.mountainmath.ca/ for all sorts of statistical approaches to the housing market and other city factors. Really fascinating and data-driven stuff.

From their site, here is a distribution of owner-occupied homes by region. Calgary has a far lower proportion than the bigger cities of the 1 bedroom and two bedroom housing stock. A few ideas why there is a gap between Calgary and larger cities:
  • the chicken and egg affordability (big cities grow, growth pressure increased housing and construction costs, housing gets smaller, cycle repeats)
  • historic reasons (older cities have more stock of older, generally smaller units from times when wealth/ownership was an absurd concept for the majority of people)
  • we built huge houses while we were really rich over-weighting us in that category
  • Smaller cities have less market for niche housing because there is less location factors (it's easy to get everywhere to everywhere so why should I get a smaller place in a good location when I can get a larger one 10 minutes away)

1601484523358.png


Over time, a lot of those factors will change with growth and demographics. I see a permanent and growing (albeit small) market for small units in a good location, driven by demographic and wealth changes, as well as increasing location value as the city grows.

How small is too small or can there be such a thing as "too small"? I don't know, but size / location options allow for market stratification in 30 years once the shine of new is gone. If the value of these small units doesn't keep up with the rest of the stock (implying that too small isn't attractive), perhaps these units will be the only ones in the neighbourhood that someone can afford in the area for someone who value location over size. Exact same reason on a much smaller, more Calgary-scale for why people move to New York to live in 200 sqft rather than 1,000sqft.
 
Last edited:
This layout for 350 ish square foot is much more livable than a super narrow 350 ish at say Park Central. The windows and balcony make a huge difference and the shape is much more usable and open.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top