As interest rates increase are containers a solution to housing problems?

Are Containers a solution to housing problems?

Container homes are exactly what they sound like; homes made from the steel shipping containers that you see carrying goods everywhere on trains, trucks, and ships. From these giant Lego blocks, people are building homes of all shapes and sizes.

Besides trendiness, interest in container homes is also part of a wider interest in saving money with prefabricated and modular homes. Many potential homeowners are looking for lower construction and maintenance costs. There is also a perception that container homes are contributing to recycling.

Desperate times often call for radical solutions. One thing the world isn’t lacking is shipping containers. There may be up to 40 million shipping containers in the world right now, and experts believe that only six million are currently in use.

A well-maintained shipping container home can retain its resale value much like a traditional home. They're fairly easy to resell since they can be loaded onto a truck and shipped almost anywhere.

The idea of living in a shipping container might strike some as odd – unfeasible, impractical, and maybe even a little unappealing. It’s important to think of shipping containers not as finished products, but as raw materials – as exoskeletons for future homes.

Because really, there’s no end to what you can do with a shipping container. They can easily be insulated and fitted with windows, doors, indoor partitions, electricity and running water – everything that’s needed for human inhabitation.

A single shipping container can be transformed into a cosy dwelling in no time at all. But if more space is needed, you can just stack multiple containers on top of each other.