The most common coping strategy, though, is simply to increase the number of paying people per square foot of dwelling space – by doubling up or renting to couch-surfers.
At the center of the exhibition, it has constructed a complete, 1,000-square-foot dwelling unit that could be either a house or an apartment.
For single-family homes, prices range from $200,000 at the low end to $300,000 for a 1,700- to-2,200-square-foot dwelling.
The 500-square-foot dwelling was a far cry from the grand dream house they had set out with a real estate agent to buy.
John and his crew are now working on a 20,000-square-foot dwelling, the sort of extra-large new construction known locally as a "starter castle".
TheSize Surfaces, a composite-stone manufacturer in Castellón, Spain, also ran a tiny-house tour to showcase a 400-square-foot dwelling clad with Neolith, the company's stain-proof synthetic surface.
The iguana is house-trained (each morning it relieves itself in a paper-towel-lined bathtub, which Mr. Cohen scrubs down with bleach afterward) and wanders freely through the 525-square-foot dwelling.
A few thousand dollars won't get you very far in Mumbai, where the market rent on a modest 269-square-foot dwelling might run $350 a month and the purchase price $35,000.
Consider this 20,000-square-foot dwelling, set in a far-as-the-eye-can-see expanse of golf course green, as a latter-day incarnation of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, R.I. Inside the house, digital reproductions of the Annenbergs' $1-billion-plus Impressionist art collection compete for space on the few walls not made of glass.
One proposal being considered in Menlo Park could restrict lawns on new or reconfigured landscapes to no more than 500 square feet per dwelling unit or to no more than 25 percent of the landscaped area, whichever is larger.
A single container can be added to create a 320-square-foot triplex studio dwelling.
