Ask yourself honestly: Could you really live like this?

If you are not a current home owner, and have ever considered taking on the joy and bliss of a mortgage – we have some very bad news.

The International Monetary Fund has revealed that house prices in Australia are the third highest in the world, when analysed on a house price-to-income basis. In fact, in the current economy, it makes more sense to rent than buy. So it’s basically time to give up on the dream of ‘security’ and ‘stability’.

There is, however. a third option. Tiny houses.

Motivated by soaring house prices, you’ll-be-paying-it-off-until-you-die mortgages and environmental concerns – plus the realisation that the bigger your house is, the longer it takes to clean – there’s a new generation of home-owners who are doing something radically different.

Building tiny houses, that are small enough to be towed along by a car. They have wheels, which means you can take your tiny house anywhere with you (while also complying with zoning regulations).

The New Yorker explains:

Tiny houses are built on trailer platforms. Typically, they are between a hundred and a hundred and thirty square feet, roughly the size of a covered wagon…

The rhetoric of modern tiny-house living begins with the assertion that big houses, aside from being wasteful and environmentally noxious, are debtors’ prisons. Their owners work in order to afford them, and when they actually occupy them they’re anxious. Tiny houses are luxurious, because they are easier to take care of and allow their (presumably debt-free) owners to spend more money on pleasures.

The homes may be small, but the size of the movement is not.

In the US, there are between several hundred and a thousand tiny houses. In Australia, there are only about six – but numbers are growing. The Project ran a segment on tiny houses in Australia recently, which made the idea seem ridiculously fun – although perhaps not realistic.

Now…. you might still be wondering how a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom – sometimes even a lounge area – can all fit into a 100 square foot space. It basically requires crafty design, devious storage solutions, and split levels. You probably have to get rid of most of your material possessions, too.

Of course, a tiny house isn’t for everyone.

I can’t imagine trying to fit three kids and a Labrador into one of these. But for young people who are disillusioned with the current house market, and want to buy a house and still have the option of moving city, they might seem like an attractive option.

Now excuse me while I go throw away all of my furniture, and see if I can fit all of my worldly possessions into a shoebox. If you’re still not convinced it’s possible, just take a look at some of these photos of tiny houses.

And if you cannot get enough of the tiny houses, here’s a TED talk on the subject.

Could you live in a tiny house? Does the idea appeal to you at all? Do you think it could help solve the housing price issue in Australia?