WATCH: Inside Billionaire Elon Musk's $50,000 'Box' Home
Elon Musk has made plenty of headlines for his outrageous tweets, SpaceX ventures, and even his alleged Bitcoin market manipulation. But regardless of what you say about the controversial figure, you can’t deny that he’s never been one to boast about sports cars or purchase giant yachts. His interests are set purely in space—everything else is immaterial.
That’s why this billionaire, whose net worth is over $160 billion, lives in a tiny, modest home made by a small American startup that specializes in instant or prefabricated housing. The craziest thing? The market price of Musk’s new house is only $50,000—and he’s still only renting it.
“It’s kinda awesome, though,” tweeted Musk.
How much is that in Philippine pesos? About only P2.5 million, cheaper than most small house models in subdivisions.
Musk’s new home is located in Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas, next to SpaceX’s massive offices and rocket site. SpaceX is actually renting the house to Musk, who doesn’t own it outright. But hey, at least he owns the entire company?
The box home is one of only two homes used by Musk, who’s previously stated his lack of interest in having many assets beyond his stocks in Tesla and investments in SpaceX. The only house he actually owns is an events house in the Bay Area, used for hosting and gatherings.
The billionaire spends the rest of his time in a 375-square-foot instant house model called a Casita made by startup Boxabl. The startup’s homes are essentially box homes that can be delivered in a box. The materials are delivered and flat-packed, and setup only takes one day.
In November last year, Boxabl posted a factory tour video on its YouTube channel, sharing how it was building a home for a “top-secret” and “high-profile” customer in Boca Chica, Texas. A few months later, the cat was out of the bag after netizens and reporters connected the dots based on Boxabl’s video, Musk’s tweet, and the giant conspicuous poster of a SpaceX rocket on the door of the video.
Musk’s Boxabl house is set up like a studio apartment, complete with a small kitchen, bathroom, and combined living room and bedroom area. There are plenty of smart storage solutions bundled into the box home, and its tiny, efficient features make it a sustainable housing solution that has only a small carbon footprint and cheap utility bills.
