Depends on where you are in the country, actually. In suburban areas of the midwest, the plot of land with a 3000 sqft house is much cheaper than the actual house.
I don't think tiny house is black-and-white 0% about affordability and 100% about aesthetics. To me it's basically a way for people who perceive themselves as middle class to live cheaply in housing that is a step above trailers, and it's caused by the very high rents in certain urban areas like Toronto, Seattle, and the bay area. You probably don't see a lot of millenials living in tiny houses in Des Moines, Iowa or Cincinnati, Ohio.
Also, not sure how familiar you are with the bay area housing issue, but a lot of it is due to lack of supply + zoning. The state of california recently passed legislation allowing some zoning requirements to be circumvented allowing people to build ADUs - accessory dwelling units - in their backyards, which constitute the vast majority of tiny houses in the bay area (again partly due to zoning... there are very few places in commuting distance of the jobs centers where you would be allowed to build just a tiny house, or a collection of tiny houses, on a plot of land).
Around here tiny houses are priced similarly to similar-sized studios, with some benefits and drawbacks of living in an ADU compared to a studio (detached, usually in quieter residentail areas, less amenities than an apartment building might have, often cheaper). Affordability is a huge part of why people live in ADUs over here
> In suburban areas of the midwest, the plot of land with a 3000 sqft house is much cheaper than the actual house.
I think the same holds true for most of the US outside of major urban areas. When 1/2 acre costs $30,000 any house you build will cost more than the land.
I don't think tiny house is black-and-white 0% about affordability and 100% about aesthetics. To me it's basically a way for people who perceive themselves as middle class to live cheaply in housing that is a step above trailers, and it's caused by the very high rents in certain urban areas like Toronto, Seattle, and the bay area. You probably don't see a lot of millenials living in tiny houses in Des Moines, Iowa or Cincinnati, Ohio.
Also, not sure how familiar you are with the bay area housing issue, but a lot of it is due to lack of supply + zoning. The state of california recently passed legislation allowing some zoning requirements to be circumvented allowing people to build ADUs - accessory dwelling units - in their backyards, which constitute the vast majority of tiny houses in the bay area (again partly due to zoning... there are very few places in commuting distance of the jobs centers where you would be allowed to build just a tiny house, or a collection of tiny houses, on a plot of land).
Around here tiny houses are priced similarly to similar-sized studios, with some benefits and drawbacks of living in an ADU compared to a studio (detached, usually in quieter residentail areas, less amenities than an apartment building might have, often cheaper). Affordability is a huge part of why people live in ADUs over here