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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Top 5 Cities Where Tiny Apartments Are Big — and How Much It Costs to Live There
As typical rent prices across the U.S. reach more than $2,000, many Americans struggle to find affordable rental housing, according to recent research from As new graduates seek apartments, it puts more upward pressure on rent prices. Read Next: Discover More: This spring, multifamily home rental prices have edged up by 0.7%, up to $1,849 for a typical apartment, wrote in its March Rent Report. The solution for many renters? Tiny apartments, or micro-housing. Developers are converting space in dying or defunct malls across the country into micro-apartments, like the ones at The Arcade, a historic mall building in Providence, Rhode Island. Similarly, the Lafayette Square Mall in Indianapolis is planning to open 1,200 apartments in a former Sears building in 2025, reported. But the biggest demand for tiny apartments is on the West Coast, according to a new study from San Francisco ranks the highest or available micro-units and also shows the biggest cost savings for renters who can cram themselves and their belongings in a space that maxes out at 415 feet. According to research, some tiny apartments in San Francisco measure as small as 124 square feet. If you're reading this from the comfort of a spacious, 3-bedroom suburban home, 124 square feet is just slightly larger than a 10′ x 12′ bedroom you might have in your house. Most micro-units have a maximum size of roughly 415 to 440 feet to be considered 'micro' by zoning laws. But you'll find outliers. For instance, the smallest of the tiny apartments are in Honolulu, Hawaii, where a unit must be under 348 square feet to be considered 'micro.' Let's take a look at 5 cities where micro-units make up more than 10% of the city's available rentals. City Avg. size of tiny apt. % of micro-units Avg. Rent for Micro-unit Savings compared to traditional apartment San Francisco 415 14.70% $1,888 $1,628 Seattle 405 12% $1,289 $1,099 Honolulu 348 11.60% $1,700 $562 Portland (OR) 408 10.70% $1,144 $635 Minneapolis 433 10.40% $1,078 $661 More From GOBankingRates Surprising Items People Are Stocking Up On Before Tariff Pains Hit: Is It Smart? 10 Unreliable SUVs To Stay Away From Buying This article originally appeared on Top 5 Cities Where Tiny Apartments Are Big — and How Much It Costs to Live There
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What can Toronto's real estate industry do to solve the city's big problem of small condos?
In Toronto, towers upon towers of small condo units fill block after block downtown. Condo sales across the board are slumping in Canada's biggest cities as supply soars and demand shrinks. And the hardest units to sell are often the tiniest. Bachelor and one bedroom units in the Toronto area made up 20 per cent of condo sales in the last quarter of 2024, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. Bigger units, such as one bedroom plus den, two bedrooms and two bedrooms plus den, collectively made up 72 per cent of sales. One bedrooms are also fetching less on the rental market — the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto has dropped 5.8 per cent year-over-year, according to data from rental unit listing site while that decline is even steeper in some other Canadian cities. Toronto-based real estate broker John Pasalis says one-bedroom and studio spaces are the hardest to move in the current market. "Especially very small one bedrooms, under 550 square feet," he said. "Demand is very slow." It's a trend that's been building for years, according to Christopher Wein, chief operating officer of Ontario-based real estate development company Equiton Developments. Over the last five years, he says developers have been building units that are too small to be comfortable, and the realities of the market are catching up with the industry. "Small is great from a price point perspective, but not if it's not functional, feasible or livable," Wein said, noting that the industry has figured out that it went too far in terms of the number of small units they made. Now, he says "the pendulum has to swing back." As the city's condo-buying market switches from investors looking to flip small units for a profit or use as rentals to end users who actually want to live in the condos they buy, some builders, real estate agents and other industry insiders are re-evaluating what once worked and trying to figure out how the current supply of smaller floorplans can be reimagined to meet demand for bigger units. It's something experts say is doable, but complicated, expensive and very much dependent upon what stage of development buildings are in. Wein says changing a condo's footprint is possible sometimes — he's redesigned several buildings in the past at various stages of the construction process, both with Equiton and other companies. But once a building is finished, he says, swaps can be really difficult to make, whether its being done by a builder or a single condo owner hoping to merge two units. "Now you are tearing things apart, you're doing a renovation," Wein said. "You have to look at how that affects not just the structural engineering, but also mechanical and electrical." WATCH | Why the condo market is plummeting during a housing crisis: Expansions require knocking down walls between units, which presents challenges. Wein says midrise buildings might have walls made of wood or steel, but most buildings over 12 storeys require concrete walls for support. He says merging units in high-rise towers is often "so complicated, so expensive, and it's going to require so much engineering solution, that we just shouldn't bother." In cases where Wein has removed walls, only part of the wall is made of concrete — then, it's a matter of finding the gaps and making the floor plan functional between the two spaces. But this still requires lots of work and results in waste — for example, ripping out one fully-functional kitchen which means all those fixtures and materials would end up as scrap. Pasalis, the real estate broker, says merging units does happen occasionally, but mostly in the luxury condo market. The average person looking to buy two units and merge them — especially two previously occupied condos rather than units in a brand-new building — would likely have a tricky time finding a place where that's possible, he says. "The probability of two units going on the market at the exact same time for sale that are well suited to be merged … that will be virtually zero." On top of difficult structural challenges, experts say the math also doesn't add up in most cases. According to Pasalis, smaller condos sell for more per square foot than bigger ones. Buying two small condos might cost about $1.2 million, he estimates, plus more to renovate and merge them. For close to that amount, he points out, you could buy a semi-detached house in Toronto's downtown, and of course, it would cost far less to simply buy a condo pre-built with multiple bedrooms. The only way the option might become viable is if the price of small condos falls significantly and bigger two or three bedroom units keep their value, Pasalis says, as folks buying and renovating condos would actually gain something from their investment. Helen Stopps, an assistant architectural science professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, says even if buyers could stomach the price and the extensive renovations required to merge smaller condos into larger ones, red tape might stop construction anyway. WATCH | Just how small is a micro condo?: Condos are built on a shared ownership model, where people own their individual units but invest and make decisions about the overall building as a group. Most construction in condos needs to be approved by the condo board that oversees building management, which Stopps says can make getting this kind of renovation done "incredibly hard." The cases where it makes the most sense sense is on a mass scale when people aren't living in the building, she says. So that means either in the pre-construction phase while the developer is still in control, or in vacant buildings where a single company or collective has bought the entire condo. Even if small condo units sit on the market for a while, Stopps says they'll eventually be sold or rented — though she notes prices might have to fall substantially before that happens. On some level, that means working with a small space to make it more livable. Things like movable walls or dividers, reconfigurable furniture and off-site storage units could all make smaller spaces more functional, Stopps suggests. Adding more shared amenities or public spaces to condos, she says, could also help people get some of the extra space they crave. Stopps also says it's up to provincial or municipal governments to incentivize developers to build more livable housing. Allowing developers to "do whatever they want in order to maximize their profits" is part of why we ended up with so many tiny condos in the first place, Stopp says, noting that because smaller units can be sold for more money per square foot, that's what developers choose to build. A "density bonus" from the government, or lowering development charges for condos that are planned with bigger units could help push developers away from micro-units, she says. On the development side, Wein says he and some other developers have started changing future projects where necessary to make units bigger in response to buyer demand. He notes that Equiton's project at 875 The Queensway in Toronto is a good example. Designs, zoning and approval were all done when Wein says he went back to the drawing board after realizing the units were too cramped and weren't matching what buyers wanted. That project, expected to be move-in ready in 2027, will now have 152 units instead of 177, with each unit becoming about 10 per cent bigger. Wein says it's the smart move, given the demand for bigger spaces doesn't seem to be going away. "You're far better off [adjusting now] than you are, you know, just forging ahead and hoping market conditions change."
Khaleej Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Dubai rents: Over 200,000 new units to keep prices under pressure in 2025-26
Rents will remain under pressure in Dubai in 2025 and 2026 due to the massive supply of over 200,000 units hitting the market and testing the absorption of the local property market, according to Fitch Ratings. 'Rent prices in most areas showed signs of stabilisation in the first quarter of 2025 after three years of high growth, correlating with unit prices… 'We believe rent rates will be under pressure in 2025 and 2026 due to the large pipeline of projects, and lower rent prices will pressure asset prices as well,' it said. The global ratings agency analysts said that the average gross rental yield on Dubai residential property declined by about 30 basis points between the second half of 2024 and to first quarter of 2025, though remains healthy at about 7.4 per cent. 'While a real estate crash of a magnitude close to the 2008 crisis is not expected, the drop in rental yields and rise in supply are likely to lead to a moderate price correction. The magnitude of the correction will depend on the readiness of investors to accept lower rental yields, and would be likely to be larger if interest rates remain higher for longer,' said Fitch analysts. The property market in Dubai crashed during the 2008-09 financial crisis as the UAE and global economy took a massive hit due to the Lehman Brothers crisis. Following the delivery of 30,000 units in 2024, the Dubai property market is projected to see 210,000 new units coming into the market in two years — 90,000 in 2025 and 120,000 in 2026. The UAE-based real estate consultancy said the Dubai rental market is showing increasing stability, with first-quarter growth for average apartment and villa rates moderating to zero per cent and 1 per cent, respectively. 'Whilst this indicates a restraint from previous trends, year-on-year growth remains positive at 9 per cent for apartments and 7 per cent for villas, reflecting healthy underlying demand,' it said, adding that certain areas continued to see rental appreciation, often supported by limited new inventory or the introduction of higher-quality residential offerings. 'In contrast, other localities experienced market adjustments, influenced by the arrival of new supply and residents increasingly prioritising affordability in their housing choices.' The Smart Rental Index, introduced by the Dubai Land Department (DLD) in early 2025, is proving instrumental in promoting rental price stability. Looking ahead, real estate firm Asteco anticipated further adjustments to the rental market dynamics. 'Despite supply constraints in established communities with limited new development, the market is actively expanding, marked by a significant influx of newly delivered residential units and a considerable future supply pipeline. This growing inventory is likely to foster a more balanced environment, potentially moderating rental increases and providing greater options for residents,' it said.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Landlord fined for breaching WA tenancy laws amid Perth housing crisis
A landlord who demanded more than $32,000 from a tenant before they had even moved in, then threatened to kick them out if they didn't agree to a huge rent hike, has been fined for a string of breaches of WA's tenancy laws. The case has laid bare the desperation of renters who are often willing to hand over large sums of money to secure a property in Perth's tight rental market. The woman was handed a spent conviction and fined $8,500 in the Perth Magistrates Court on May 16 for violations relating to her handling of rent and bond payments for the property in the southern suburb of Ardross. In February 2024, the NSW-based landlord entered into a tenancy agreement and demanded the tenant pay $16,200 to cover the first three months of rent before they had moved in. Consumer Protection's John McMaster told ABC Radio Perth this was a significant breach of the law, which prohibited landlords for asking for more than two weeks' rent in advance. The landlord also asked for a further $16,200 from the tenant as a security bond. But she only lodged $5,400 of the money with the bond administrator — four months after receiving the money. Mr McMaster said landlords were required to lodge bonds within 14 days, and needed to be especially careful to comply with the law when holding large sums of tenants' money. "Handling security bond money is a serious matter, because it's a lot of money for the tenant and if that money is misused or not registered there are serious penalties," he said. About a month before the due date for further rent, the landlord then hiked the fortnightly rent by $2,700, threatening to evict the tenant if the extra money was not paid. Commissioner for Consumer Protection Owen Kelly said the Residential Tenancies Act was a vital safeguard for tenants, who were especially vulnerable during periods of high demand in the rental market. Perth's vacancy rate was 2.4 per cent in April, down from 2.5 per cent in March, according to the Real Estate Institute of WA. "When tenants have fewer options, they may have little to no power to negotiate with landlords before or during the tenancy," Dr Kelly said. "Therefore, it's crucial landlords respect the laws that have been put in place to protect them. "The tenant in this case was subjected to unnecessary risk by being asked to pay three months of rent up front before moving in. "She was also placed under unnecessary financial burden when further rent demands were made before that initial period had expired." The landlord told the court she was unaware of her obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act, but in handing down the sentence, Magistrate Donna Webb said ignorance of the law was no excuse. The woman pleaded guilty to four charges, but the court took into account her good character and handed her a spent conviction. She was fined $8,500 and has since engaged a property manager to avoid any further breaches. Mr McMaster said it was important landlords knew their rights and responsibilities, but tenants also needed to be aware of their rights. "If you don't know the tenancy law yourself, there are plenty of registered experts," he said.
CBC
7 days ago
- Business
- CBC
How much are 'financial landlords' driving up Toronto rents?
A new report is shining a light on a decades-long problem in Toronto: so-called 'financial landlords' and their effect on Toronto's rental market. CBC's Chris Glover digs into the data to find out why they are worsening the affordability crisis.
