Micro-Apartments as an Emerging Real Estate Market : Does the 'Small Space, Big City' Trade-off Work in Europe?

Master's Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Economics - Other, grade: 2,2, EBS European Business School gGmbH (EBS Business School - Real Estate Management Institute), language: English, abstract: The aim of this thesis is to have a look at micro-apartments as an emerging housing market in Europe and find out if the concept is sustainable. The research is focused mainly on Germany and the United Kingdom, as they are the two most important real estate markets in Europe. Chapter Two will give an overview of what micro-apartments are, which demographic groups they target, and how they ought to be designed. Chapter Three explains some of the trends that have led to the emergence of micro-units, followed by an overview of advantages and disadvantages in Chapter Four. Chapter Five discusses two examples for recent micro-unit developments in London and Berlin. Finally, Chapter Six covers a survey that was conducted in order to find out if the "small space, big city" trade-off is finding favour with Europeans. The chapter begins with an overview of the questionnaire and the demographic composition of the respondents, followed by findings concerning the interest in and expectations for micro-apartments and what amenities and features these flats should include. Finally, differences between the various demographic groups are identified and the European survey results are compared to previous findings from the United States.