David Zih, a filmmaker from Hungary, never thought he would be living in a tent instead of a house to battle the cost of living. He had planned to build a house with a view on his plot of land outside Budapest.

But with mounting construction costs and a hike in energy prices, he turned to an old nomadic way of living in a 'yurt.' A domed tent that was used on the steppes of Central Asia for centuries.

"By the time the yurt is ready, it will be half the cost of what a lightweight house would have been. I got a quote for a house like that in the spring and by the autumn costs rose by another 30%," Zih said.

The tent-house comes with doors, and windows, it has insulation in the ceilings, walls, and floor, and is fully waterproof. It covers 80 square meters and will be ready to move in before the winter.

Zih, is one of an increasing number of Hungarians who are opting for yurts as their permanent home, rather than a house or apartment. Orders for yurts have soared this year and there is a backlog of orders until next summer. 

To build a yurt to the standard and size of David Zih's would cost around $25,000, a quarter of the price of an average small house in Hungary. The largest-sized yurt would usually take around three days to build and there are around a dozen yurt builders in the country.