In China, the housing trend is on the small side

I don't know how the housing crash has affected new home square footage in the U.S., but it seems from observation that big is still on the agenda. Not so many of the sprawling McMansions are going up as there were a few years ago, but I see little evidence of supposed small house movement in the mainstream construction activity that does seem to be picking up. But across the oceans in China, it is apparently a different story. Check out this article about a trend for ultra-small residences, as in a 160-square-foot apartment. Yeah, that's not a typo. Less than 200 square feet, not much bigger than the footprint of a good size SUV or minivan. From the pictures it doesn't look half bad -- if it were my son's college dorm room -- but would I want to invest in that for my permanent residence to the tune of $21,500? Not likely, but I'm not in China either. Interesting to see where this trend goes.