The global prefabricated villa market is accelerating its expansion

The global prefabricated villa market is accelerating its expansion

The latest report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that the global prefabricated building market is expected to reach US$148 billion in 2024, of which villa-type residential buildings account for more than 35% for the first time. Driven by green building policies and housing shortages, developed countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan and emerging markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East are showing a differentiated development trend.

Europe and the United States: Policy subsidies stimulate the high-end market

Germany passed the "Climate Neutral Building Law", requiring that new residential buildings must meet the "assembly + renewable energy" dual standards from 2025. A modular villa project in Berlin received 12 million euros in funding from the European Union for its negative carbon emission design.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in May that it would expand the "Prefabricated Housing Loan Guarantee Program". The first fully robot-built smart villa community appeared in Silicon Valley, California, and the unit price exceeded US$2 million but was still sold out.

Asia: Cost advantage promotes industrial transfer

Japan's Yamato House Industry released the world's fastest construction system, using carbon fiber prefabricated wall panels to shorten the villa construction period to 14 days. In Q1 2024, export orders increased by 73%, mainly to Australia and the Middle East.

Vietnam has become a new manufacturing center, with more than 200 prefabricated factories gathered around Ho Chi Minh City. The labor cost is only 60% of that in China, attracting Singapore developers to purchase holiday villas in bulk at a price of 80,000 to 120,000 US dollars per set.

Technology competition is heating up
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) announced the "bioconcrete" technology in June. Prefabricated components grown with mycelium can make the villa walls have self-repairing capabilities; and Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates is testing a hybrid construction mode of 3D printed villas and modular structures, which is expected to reduce energy consumption by 55%.

Controversy and challenges
Despite rapid development, the International Labor Organization (ILO) warned that some developing countries have the problem of "prefabricated sweatshops". At the same time, the promotion of solar prefabricated villas in African countries is hindered by weak power grid infrastructure. According to McKinsey's forecast, the lack of uniformity in global modular building technology standards may cause trade frictions worth about $27 billion in 2025.

Industry Outlook
Eric Thomson, chairman of the International Prefabricated Building Alliance (MODBUILD), said: "With a global housing gap of 150 million units, prefabricated villas are being upgraded from emergency solutions to mainstream options, but a cross-border certification system needs to be established." The agency predicts that in 2027, one in every seven newly built villas in the world will be fully prefabricated.