Twin Cities tiny homes on the market for budget-conscious buyers

After conquering chicken wings, Shannon Bryant is tackling tiny houses.

Several years ago, she and her husband brought the popular Wingstop restaurant concept to the Twin Cities. Next on her entrepreneurial agenda: More affordable new houses.

“We saw a clear gap in the market for a strong chicken concept,” she said. “I see a similar opportunity today in housing.”

That’s why she launched Glow Tiny Homes, which aims to develop new houses for far less than they typically cost. She’s embracing all the principles of the “tiny house” movement, which has become much more of a lifestyle than a specific housing type. It’s spurred the adoption of new building codes that allow smaller houses in suburbs and cities that once had minimum-size requirements that made buying a new house cost prohibitive for many buyers.

It’s a less-is-more, simple-living concept that’s even made its way into the entertainment world via blogs and reality shows. One such program is Tiny House Nation, which follows families that want to build 500-square-feet-or-less houses.

To be tiny, there’s no specific size requirement or definition based on construction method. In some ways, tiny houses have been around for decades. The earliest iterations of manufacture homes (a.k.a. “mobile homes) were small houses built on trailers and narrow enough for a truck to haul it to a home site. Today, they’ve grown much larger and tend to stay on the same lot once placed.

“Park models,” also built on a trailer frame, have become increasingly popular among those who want something bigger and more permanent than a travel trailer but smaller — and sometimes less expensive — than a typical manufactured home. Though most are fully insulated, they’re often attractive to snowbirds who want a seasonal landing pad.

“We’re hearing from buyers who specifically want smaller, simpler living,” she said, “downsizers, first-time buyers, and people who want lower maintenance and energy costs.”

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Though tiny houses typically cost far less than half of a new house’s list price, by another measure, they’re not always less expensive than a larger one.

At the end of 2025, the median sale price of a new single-family house in the Twin Cities metro was $550,445, or $239 per square foot, according to the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors. Many small houses that are now for sale in the Twin Cities have a higher per-square-foot cost, in part because land costs are the same no matter the size of the house.

Bryant has built two so far and plans to build more as she find suitable sites and buyers willing to live in them.

The second is at 547 Blair Avenue, also in St. Paul. It has 762 square feet with two bedrooms and one bathroom. It’s priced at $264,000, or $346 per square foot. It has a walk-in closet, kitchen island, patio and is on a nearly 5,000-square-foot lot.

Asnat Ghebremedhin of Anderson Realty (612-532-5061 or asnat@andersonrealtymn.com) has both listings.

Ken Sanz said he had this fully insulated, 492-square-foot tiny house built last year as a year-round retreat and possible short-term vacation rental. The $648-per-square-foot property is about an hour north of the Twin Cities on the outskirts of Pine City.

It has two bedrooms and one bathroom with a walk-in shower and in-floor heat. It’s on an acre of land with frontage and views of the Snake River.

Like many tiny houses, it has a modern vibe with an open floor plan, including a kitchen with a center island that’s open to the living room. The living room has sliding patio doors that open onto a covered, 22-by 12-foot deck that extends the living space, seasonally, anyhow. There is also an included hot tub.

Ken Sanz with the National Realty Guild in Edina (763-843-8959 or kenrsanz@gmail.com) has the $319,000 listing.

If a single-family house with a yard and the maintenance that goes with it isn’t on some prospective buyers’ wish lists, another budget-friendly option might be a condominium.

There are now more than a dozen 500-square-feet-or-less condos for sale in the Twin Cities metro, according to Realtor.com. All of them are priced far below a single-family house.

Some of the least expensive ones are in the City Heights condo building at 431 S. Seventh St. in downtown Minneapolis, where there are several studio and one-bedroom units for sale. Most are well under $100,000, with a monthly homeowners association (HOA) fee of about $500.

For $119,900, or $318 per square foot, you can buy an efficient one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo with just 377 square feet in the Lakewinds condo building, which includes access to Lake Minnetonka. HOA fees in that building are $327.

Geoffrey Serdar of Compass (952-258-3100 or geoffrey.serdar@compass.com) has the Lakewinds listing.

Mike Seebinger of DRG (612-807-4958 or Mike@DRGMpls.com) has the Sable listing.