Home prices are on the rise in Montreal, a city that takes pride in embracing underground construction, so it's time to discuss the inevitable arrival of mega-basements.Homeowners in posh neighborhoods will soon - if they have not already - start to expand their cramped dwellings with massive, multi-level basements under their homes and yards.
London has become a centre for the trend, as hundreds of homes have been expanded downwards with movie rooms, swimming pools, bowling alleys and garages, as property owners expand their homes by digging under their buildings.
The property generally rises in value far more than the cost required to build the underground space.
Neighbours frequently complain about the lengthy periods of noise and dust that the construction that the basement-building brings.
Others nearby homeowners surely tolerate the disturbance as they know their property rises in value as bidders know they can expand in that manner.
Municipalities have an incentive to encourage the trend as well because taxes rise when property values rise.
The renovations can be expensive and natural light does not enter into the newly-built spaces but some of the results can be dazzling, as seen in the video below.