Why Shipping Container Homes are Growing in Popularity

Shipping container homes are growing in popularity in both urban and rural areas as a way to offer a fast, green and sustainable approach to building. REALTOR® University recently suggested that REALTORS® should become familiar with the features, amenities and issues as these homes become more mainstream. Mary Martinez-Garcia, 2014 graduate of the REALTOR® University Master of Real Estate Program, and current manager of library collection development, information central, NAR, was asked by the Center for REALTOR® Technology (CRT) to research shipping container homes. Here are highlights: • Used for both environmentally-friendly home and luxury home, containers start at $2,000. • An estimated 300 million freight containers sit empty at sea ports all over the world at any given time • Shipping container has more recently been used in multiunit and special use applications to meet the housing needs of students and low-income residents. • Those active in the shipping container as a home industry foresee more synergy in the future between container-based engineering and modular/prefab housing.