The high cost of housing and today's easing of COVID restrictions combined to cause an overwhelming response at an Auckland exhibition.
The organisers of the Tiny House show were surprised by attendance, and say interest has never been so high.
They may be tiny but their attraction has drawn large crowds. Tiny homes are showing off what they have to offer.
"We are currently tiny home living and just wanted to see get some ideas, inspiration, anything with solar," one visitor to the show says.
While others are in the market to buy.
"They're affordable if you already have a piece of land to put them on and the problem in Auckland it's not just the cost of house prices but the cost of land," another says.
Skyrocketing costs have pushed some to rethink their way of living.
Tiny House Builders Limited says they're booked out a year and a half in advance.
"We aren't keeping up with the capacity because there is such a need. Definitely, a dramatic increase after the first lockdown, people were thinking about it and saying 'yes go - why have we been waiting'," Tiny House Builders Limited founding director Rebecca McLean says.
One 'tiny pod' will set you back around $80,000 for two bedrooms, while another 14 by 4 tiny home is priced over $150,000.
"We get first-home buyers, mum and dad downsizing, expats coming back from COVID, Airbnb," Compac Homes Simon Fleming says.
All people that contributed to over a crowd of 10,000 who walked through the Tiny House expo on Saturday - that's the number they expected for the whole two-day event.
The red traffic light setting has meant there is no gathering limits outside today but for the expo inside there's a 200-person limit with officials here counting people as they go in.
While it's been able to go ahead, COVID-19 has hampered the expo.
"We had nearly 100 exhibitors originally and a lot had to pull out in the last couple of weeks because they either had COVID or they were concerned about coming to the event," Tiny House Expo director Sharla May says.
Now the organisers want a loosening of rules that would allow these tiny houses to move more easily around the country.
"If I was to lease land off somebody and only there for a year or two I could be looking at $6,000-$10,000 and then if I'm moving on in a year or two I'd have to go through the process with the new landowner on the new piece of land," May says.
"When government do get on board with us to see that there is a need and it is a solution and people are wanting it, that it will make it easier for councils to legislate, owners to navigate," McLean says.
There may be a lot to navigate but you won't need a map to find your way around these tiny structures.
