Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Corrected---What Starter Homes Look Like Around the World---Corrected

Correction: What I thought was a representative London starter pad (below) is actually a variation of the original Barbie Dream Home from 1962. See after the jump.
Regret the error.

Original post:

http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/07/barbie-dream-house-2.jpg
London, £600,000
From Curbed:
Across the U.S., and especially in major cities, starter homes—that is, smaller, entry-level properties attainable for individuals, couples, or families just starting out—are increasingly hard to come by. In numbers, that’s a 40 percent inventory drop nationwide since 2012, along with a 6 percent increase in the share of income needed to purchase one.

A longer, narrower road to homeownership may be the new reality for most younger Americans, but what’s the situation like in other cities around the world? Do first-time house hunters overseas have to save for a long time? And how do their options look once they get there?
To get a taste, Curbed talked to real estate agents in half a dozen cities: Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, and Kansas City, MO, one U.S. metro where starter homes are still relatively within reach. This, of course, is just a minute sample of the world, but already, we can see a number of intriguing similarities and differences.

Take the simple factors of architectural style and home size. With a typical starter home in Kansas City being a two-to-three bedroom single-family house, the square footage there tends to be higher than what first-time buyers would find in a Paris or Stockholm apartment....MORE
Addis Ababa
1-br, 517 sq.ft., $37,000 This "starter home" condo, relatively centrally located in 
Addis Ababa, includes a balcony and comes ready to be renovated. (Photos via Lamudi
Age: Early 30s
Price: $46,000
Preferred style: 1-bedroom apartment
Down payment: 100 percent

Sometimes referred to as a "huge construction site" by locals, the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is going through a real estate boom, with inventory of new residential and commercial properties rising sharply. However, Stefano Polimeno, Country Manager at real estate site Lamudi Ethiopia, says the concept of a "starter home" is still difficult to define in Addis Ababa’s developing real estate sector. For one, home buyers typically need to make full payments up front, since mortgages remain a new, uncertain product for both banks and consumers.

With housing developments popping up all over the place, many in suburban areas up to 60 minutes away from the central Addis Ababa, the city’s growing real estate market is already seeing the importance of "location, location, location."...MANY MORE
Correction contiued. From the Daily Mail:

Before the Malibu mansion: Barbie's first ever Dreamhouse from 1962 revealed to be a tiny yellow studio apartment crafted from cardboard 

Christmas! The sparse studio, seen all jazzed up with festive decorations and populated by Barbie, Ken and a little blonde infant doll (pictured)
Christmas! The sparse studio, seen all jazzed up with festive decorations and populated by Barbie, Ken
 and a little blonde infant doll (pictured)
...MORE