First-time buyers offered flatpack kit homes in the Netherlands

If you like spending time in the greenhouse and following the sun throughout the day, you might opt for the Hayhouse; or if you're more drawn to the idea of a cosy Scandinavian log cabin, maybe the Deckhouse is for you.

Choosing your dream home has become as simple as picking furniture from the Ikea catalogue for residents of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where a neighbourhood of affordable architect- designed kit houses has just been launched.

Aimed at first-time buyers, the city's "I build affordable in Nijmegen" initiative (IbbN) has paired 20 architects with building companies to produce about 30 designs - from detached timber cabins to redbrick terraced houses - with a construction cost of €115,000 (HK$1.2 million).

Anyone with an annual income of between €30,000 and €47,000 is eligible to apply for an IbbN loan, while all costs are fixed from the beginning, removing the usual danger of ballooning budgets and long delays when building your own, untested house. Designed to be manufactured from prefabricated parts, in close collaboration with the builder, the flatpack kits are delivered to the site and can be assembled within six to eight weeks.

"Since the economic crisis, both architects and the city are trying to find new ways to build houses," said Elsbeth Ronner of LRVH architects, a young practice that has designed one of the house types, a straw-bale eco-house inspired by local haylofts. "There are few developers willing to build, so the city is selling plots directly to the residents, and letting them do it for themselves."

For young architects like Ronner, whose practice has so far only worked on refurbishment projects, the scheme also provides an opportunity to get into house building.