Though U.S. mortgage rates are now at their lowest level in 15 months, home prices are still high.
As the U.S. faces a shortage of 4.5 million homes, construction company Icon is using 3D printing technology to mass-print houses — and it’s wrapping up the final properties in a 100-home, 3D-printed community in Georgetown, Texas.
Icon uses a 45-foot-wide 3D printer and fills it with a combination of concrete powder, water, sand, and other materials. The printer then pipes the mixture, layering it until it stacks up to form a house.
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The project to build 100 of these 3D-printed homes in Georgetown, Texas, started in November 2022 and is slated for completion by the end of the summer, according to a Reuters report.
How it’s going….how it started. 95 homes printed & a few more to go at Wolf Ranch. https://t.co/pX4iDWHXSB pic.twitter.com/6C3IeKgFOy
— ICON (@ICON3DTech) May 31, 2024
The homes are single-story, three to four-bedroom structures that take up 1,500 to 2,000 square feet.
Each one costs between $450,000 and $600,000. In comparison, the median listing home price in the area was $499,900.
The exterior and interior walls of each home are made out of 3D-printed concrete, which Icon says can hold up in extreme weather.
Icon says that 3D-printed homes have several advantages over traditionally made ones. The company claims that the concrete materials make the home soundproof, energy-efficient, and carbon-friendly.
The homes also take less time and money to build—one human crew and one robot could replace five different human crews, the company says.
Icon has sold about 25 of the homes in the community so far. One resident told Reuters that the house “feels like a fortress” capable of withstanding a tornado.
Besides 3D-printed homes, Icon is also testing an AI architecture bot that can churn out floor plans for a dream home.
‘A Brief History of the Future’ on @PBS is a unique six-part documentary series about our futures and how we can reimagine them.
Hosted by @AriW, directed by @Andrew_Morgan ✨ ICON on ep5 pic.twitter.com/o6p8f9wmWx
— ICON (@ICON3DTech) May 10, 2024