At 26, Kia Humberstone builds a $40,000 home on a truck

At 26, Kia Humberstone began building a home on the back of a vintage truck and trailer, hoping to find a more affordable path to homeownership without committing to decades of mortgage repayments. Based in Margaret River, Western Australia, she estimated that her second tiny-home project would cost around A$40,000, using recycled materials and her own labour to keep expenses down. Her decision followed an earlier experiment in unconventional living: during the COVID-19 pandemic, she built a tiny home on a truck for A$12,000, lived in it rent-free for two years and later sold it for A$35,000. She used the proceeds to fund a two-year camping trip around Australia. Now, she is building another mobile dwelling to create a home base while retaining the freedom to travel.Why Kia Humberstone chose an alternative to a traditional mortgageHumberstone returned to Margaret River after spending nine months in Sydney, where she became dissatisfied with city life. Having grown up in the countryside, she wanted to return to a simpler lifestyle but found that securing affordable housing remained difficult.She was concerned that taking out a conventional home loan as a single person could leave he...