“I love this space,” exclaimed the woman, in her early 20s, looking around as she walked into the room.

“I thought you would,” the real estate agent said, all smiles. “It would make a great office or, depending on what your plans are, it could be a beautiful nursery.”

The woman’s partner coughed before asking, “When did you say this place was built? It’s a new build, right?”

The agent’s smile broadened. “Oh, very new,” she said, and glanced at her watch. “The owners started it on Monday. It was finished — oh — three hours ago.”

Today, this scenario sounds unlikely for a couple of reasons. The first is that most houses aren’t assembled in a matter of days. A 2018 Survey of Construction by the U.S. Census Bureau pegged the average duration of a new house construction at close to eight months, with 6.7 of those months being the actual build itself. The second reason is that people in their early 20s aren’t usually looking around for houses to buy. According to data compiled by Deutsche Bank, the median age of North American homebuyers is now 47, an increase of 16 years compared to 1981.

SQ4D 3D-prints full-sized concrete houses in a way that’s faster, safer, and stronger than traditional methods. It’s also, the company claims, more sustainable and, crucially, cheaper. The company recently listed the first 3D-printed home for sale in the United States: An attractive 1,400 square foot home, with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a 2.5 car garage, and a quarter-acre garden in Riverhead, N.Y.

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