Apartment-bound Ukrainians check out portable homes

FILE PHOTO: Volodymyr Melnychuk, CEO of Unitfab, a Ukrainian company which manufactures prefab houses, plays with a dog outside his home in Kiev, Ukraine May 21, 2020. The demand for Unitfab's houses has increased as people yearn to move out of their apartments and live closer to nature amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

KIEV (Reuters) - Business is thriving for a company manufacturing portable houses in Ukraine as people cooped up in tower blocks under lockdown yearn to live closer to nature.

Unitfab, which launched in November, makes a basic house for $55,000 (44,708.2 pounds) in three months. At around 70 square metres, it is bigger and cheaper than the average apartment, although land, fittings and optional extra floors would add to the price.