Australia

$120k for a tiny home is an absolute ripoff, and no one should be paying even half of that.

I love the idea of tiny homes, and I want one on my property one day probably for my kid/s to live in when they're a bit older and want some independence, but there are a few problems.

1. Councils. Bloody councils. Regulations are through the roof and confusing as all hell. Application fees are stupidly expensive - in my area they increased the fees by like $5k since covid while pushing the idea of people building them! Last I checked the application fee and everything that goes with it was $28k here, and if you get denied you don't get any of that back. Greedy pieces of shit they are. Depending on different things to do with the dwelling might mean it needs to be built as a "secondary dwelling" or a stand-alone new home, and as such the regulations and costs vary wildly. Having them on wheels/a trailer is a workaround, but even then you can only legally live in one in the same space for 6 months I believe it was, before having to move to a different place.

2. Land to put it on. You can't just build a tiny home on a trailer and just pull up somewhere and live there. Your home build is actually only a minority cost in buying a home and land package - you can build a regular full house for like $150k, but you need the land to put it on. Even a 400msq2 block these days can be $500k easily or more depending on location.

3. Other things like sewerage/power/water. You either need to have your own septic system that you empty etc, or you need to be plumbed in somewhere - and that can be a huge issue with tiny homes. Same with power and water - unless you're completely off grid, in which case you'll have to have tens of thousands of $ worth of batteries etc, and a water collection and filtration system etc, the locations and cost of where you can put your tiny home are extremely limited.