IKEA & Pre-Fab Homes... Not!!!

IKEA is not public, but this could have been some really big news in the housing sector.  Imagine how cheap a house could become in affordability of IKEA got in the game of building pre-fab houses.  They might not last long, but they would be neat and cheap at the start of it.  The company issued a press release today saying that it “has not launched and is not selling prefabricated homes in the United States. Any reports saying otherwise are not accurate.”

The furniture and fixtures giant noted that its IKEA in Portland participated in a collaboration with an Oregon-based prefab studio called ideabox.  It went on to note that a version of one of ideabox’s pre-fab homes is being sold with IKEA items such as wardrobes, kitchens, etc.  It also noted that interior designers from IKEA Portland “helped furnish the interior of this particular home, and an example was on display at the recent Portland Home & Garden Show.”

Somehow it was getting out there that IKEA was going into the pre-fab home business.  The press release noted, “Each home of this type sold by ideabox will include those same IKEA products that the local prefab studio will have purchased from IKEA Portland.”

It ended the release noting, “IKEA is neither the manufacturer nor the retailer of these prefabricated homes.”

Reports were out on Huffington Post, CNET, Gothamist, CBS in Los Angeles, MSN, and elsewhere.  That was almost the greatest housing news of the year.  Now it is nothing.

JON C. OGG