Free pencil and tape measure with every house

Folks in the U.K. might need some help loading Ikea's latest offering into their cars.

The Swedish flat-pack furniture chain has started selling pre-fab homes aimed at first time, low income buyers, along with a plot of land, at its store in Gateshead, U.K.

Known as BoKlok (pronounced "Boo Clook"), the concept was pioneered in Sweden in the 1990s. The company said the houses will be ecologically friendly, using renewable materials in the construction and solar panels and geothermal to power and heat the buildings.

Take a look at a BoKlok building in Sweden >>

But buyers won't have to put these houses together themselves, they'll be mostly pre-assembled off-site, by professionals, and then plunked down on the included land, ready for people to move in.

There's room for about 90 of the homes in an estate set aside for the project in the center of Gateshead.

Flats cost between £100,000 and £125,000, with two bedroom houses costing £132,500 to £139,500 and three bedroom houses going for £150,000.

The company's hoping to help first time buyers get into the property ownership game with its BoKlok plan, giving people earning between £15,000 and £35,000 priority on the waiting list for the new homes. This is the first time the homes have been sold with a plot of land as part of the package.

Ikea teamed up with Skansa for the BoKlok system, which is designed to provide space-saving, functional, good quality and affordable housing. The name translates into English as "Live Smart" or "Smart Living."

The first block of flats is scheduled to be completed around Christmas of this year, with the first houses expected to be up in spring 2008.

While the homes will be sold with fully fitted kitchens, bathrooms and wooden floors, they will not include any of the company's popular furniture lines.

The first residents, expected to start moving in at the start of the new year, will be getting a chance to fill the house up with some flat-pack essentials, using a £250 Ikea gift voucher, as well as some time with an Ikea interior designer.