Sorte Hus, Denmark, by Sigurd Larsen

Danish architect Sigurd Larsen built this small family house in Copenhagen for just £95,000 – a feat he claims is near-impossible in the Danish capital. He intends the property, which has a black-painted timber exterior and sloping gabled roof, to become a prototype for low-cost housing.

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Mami House, Portugal, by José Carlos Nunes de Oliveira

This cuboid concrete house for a family outside Porto cost just £84,000 to build. To keep the budget down, José Carlos Nunes de Oliveira left the interior concrete walls bare and added as few partitions as possible.

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Koda House, UK, by Kodasema

Estonian design collective Kodasema has made its prefab micro home available to purchase in the UK for £150,000, in an attempt the shake up the housing market and make use of empty plots of land.

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Jim Vlock Building Project, US, by Yale students

Briefed with creating a flexible prototype on an £86,300 construction budget, graduate students from the Yale School of Architecture built this cedar-clad house for a low-income Connecticut neighbourhood. The dwelling references the local vernacular.

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Casa Invisibile, Slovenia, by Delugan Meissl

This prototype dwelling can be transported straight from factory to site on a lorry, and is covered in mirrors to help it blend in with the landscape. It features a modular interior that can be configured in different ways to suit the needs of its occupants and cost just £88,000 to build.

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IVRV House, US, by SCI-Arc students

Students in a design-build program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture have completed a sustainable house in an impoverished area of Los Angeles, featuring “eco-screens” to keep it cool and large cuts in the facade to bring in daylight.

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MIMA House, Portugal, by MIMA Architects

This modular house in Portugal can be divided into rooms with a grid of removable partitions, and has large windows that can be transformed into walls with plywood panels if more privacy is required.

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S House, Vietnam, by Vo Trong Nghia Architects

This housing prototype is the third in a series by Vo Trong Nghia Architects. Despite being strong enough to withstand earthquakes, the house is made of lightweight modular compartments that can be transported by standard shipping container.

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Happy Cheap House, Sweden, by Tommy Carlsson

Proving that cheap houses don’t have to be generic, Tommy Carlsson clad this prefabricated home in corrugated iron and gave it a sculptural appearance that changes when viewed from different angles.

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Low Cost House, South Korea, by JYA-rchitects

Extremely low-cost materials including bubble wrap and corrugated steel sheets served as insulation in a series of low-cost houses in South Korea, but were also used to bring in natural light.

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See more examples of low-cost housing on Dezeen’s Pinterest board ›