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, based in Maple Ridge, B.C., where the May benchmark house price was up 34 per cent from a year ago to $1.1 million.
Dwelltech makes three different small houses.
Its 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 bathroom works perfectly. It's a residential toilet and shower, not a small RV-type fixtures,” Lefneski said. “It's a little hard to believe all that fits in 72 square feet.”
The houses come with a 20-year warranty on 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.
The tiny homes do 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 project, by Aryze Developments, was partly financed by $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, the Edmonton village consists of 18 small homes, two accessible homes, an office and an amenity building.
