Developer Preer Property Group building tiny homes in Victoria’s caravan parks

One developer is on a mission to transform caravan parks into an affordable renting option for Aussies as the housing crises deepens.

One developer is snapping up caravan parks to transform them into sites filled with tiny homes available for low income households to rent — in what is claimed as a first for Australia.

Lei Feng, director of Preer Property Group, said a trip to the US three years ago gave him the idea as 24 million Americans live in long term housing in trailer parks.

He claims the Australian government isn’t addressing the housing affordability crisis and the tiny homes would offer a “desperately needed solution”.

There are six caravan parks in the developer’s portfolio so far including Victorian postcodes like Pakenham and Mornington Peninsula suburbs such as Rosebud and Hasting.

The tiny homes are being offered for rent for between $200 and $230, compared to an average cost of $450 to lease a one-bedroom unit in Melbourne, Mr Feng said.

He believes the tiny homes would be ideal for people on Centrelink, who are disabled, retirees, single mothers or victims of domestic violence who could rent a home for 60 per cent of the median price within the surrounding area.

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The developer is buying up caravan parks around Australia, which are made offsite. Picture: Supplied

An artist’s impression of the tiny homes. Picture: Supplied

There are almost 2500 caravan parks around Australia, with some owned by publicly listed companies, but most are run by mum and dad operators, according to Mr Feng.

“That spins off a good opportunity for us. We come from background of development and see the same asset from a different aspect, so we can acquire those caravan parks as most owners are close to retirement age and start revamping the landscape, start replacing some of the old caravans by putting some brand new ones in that are a little more architecturally driven mobile homes,” he told news.com.au.

“If you follow Netflix shows like Tiny House Nation it’s exactly like something we do.”

Every park is created different depending on the location but the developer uses its own designer for the custom homes, which generally come in at around 42sq m. Features can include large windows to make the space feel bigger, big external decking and colour metal bond to make the houses stand out.

“Basically the tiny homes are nothing more than a condensed version of a functional home. The space might be small or tiny but there’s a sense of style, steel preserve, quality of fixtures and the living area might be crunching down to pretty small area but still fits a three seater couch, it still has a small dining section, open plan kitchen, two bedrooms and one bathroom,” he explained.

“The single level house is 42sq m but what we might do is architecturally designed high ceilings with five to six metres of open space up above and the expensive use of windows to get light in and give depth to space.”

Tiny homes save on building costs as they are made in a factory and shipped to site, according to Mr Feng.

“Overall building wastage is three per cent instead of 12 per cent if building on site, so it’s cost effective to build those cabins,” he said. “The amount of savings from efficiency is reinvested to make the internal fittings which are a lot more designer driven with stone benchtops, stone splashback and matte black internal specs.”

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Lei Feng, director of Preer Property Group, wants to become the leading provider of affordable housing. Picture: Supplied

Mr Feng said his goal is to become the leading provider of low cost housing in Australia and insists this isn’t about making a quick buck.

“Our job is to invest in the caravan parks. We don’t want to lock people in a tiny box and for them to never come out … We are going to crank up the quality of housing at the most affordable price than any other developers will be able to match and double down on environmental factors like planting more trees, investing more in roads and landscaping, and building a community that people really want to live in rather than making carbon copy houses and a quick buck.

“We are reinvesting in people and the area and creating a long term sustainable business that not only is commercially viable but also delivers a good social awareness.”

Apart from rentals, Preer are also working on a few business concepts that allow people to purchase cabins with a 99 year lease. For example, people could purchase a cabin with a leasehold of 99 years in one of their parks in Mornington for $350,000 instead of paying $650,000 to $700,000 for a two-bedroom unit.