Blog Posting # 830; Copyright 7 February 2025. EducateMHC
Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction).Land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH; and with variations of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans & real estate secured mortgages), describe the post-production segment of MH.
EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial information source. Contact EducateMHC via 9317) 881-3815l email: gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (A copy of which should be in every land lease community nationwide), & SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955
And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as freelance consulting and authoring of 30 nonfiction texts.
George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrine, as well as Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large for MHInsider magazine.
‘TOTAL U.S. HOUSING STARTS’ IN DECEMBER 2024
This Total U.S. Housing Starts report, unlike the U.S. Census Bureau’s Monthly New Residential Construction Report of ‘new single-family, site-built, privately-owned housing starts’ INCLUDES offsite construction (a.k.a. factory-built) units such as HUD-Code manufactured housing, modular & panelized (or ‘prefab’) housing, and Park Model RVs!*1
Here’s the basic data. In December, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Monthly New Residential Construction Report estimated 1,499,000 seasonally-adjusted privately-owned new housing starts for the year 2024, or 124,916 during the month of December alone. However, when 11,060 offsite construction units are added to that U.S. Census Bureau total, it increases it to 135,976 for the month of December, and when annualized, results in Total U.S. Housing Starts during year 2024, calculated to be 1,631,712 seasonally-adjusted privately-owned new housing starts.
Bottom line? Without including offsite construction in its’ monthly report of new housing starts, the U.S. Census Bureau routinely underestimates annual U.S. housing starts, in this case, by 132,712 units! So, which ‘total’ are you inclined to want to reference going forward? U.S. Census Bureau’s 1,499,000 new housing starts or, including offsite construction, 1,631,712?
What follows here are descriptions of offsite construction housing (again, a.k.a. factory-built housing) types, and how they’re calculated for inclusion in this ‘Total U.S. Housing Starts’ report.
HUD-Code manufactured housing, when installed on permanent foundations on scattered building sites conveyed fee simple, are identified as ‘single-family, site-built housing’. Manufactured housing not permanently installed, is oft sited in land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) on vacant rental homesites – though in some instances, said sites are conveyed fee simple in subdivisions like Stardust Hills in Cloverdale, IN. So, one way or the other, all types of manufactured housing are included in this ‘Total U.S. Housing Starts’ report. Where does HUD-Code manufactured housing production & shipment data originate? Monthly, via the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’), on a subscription basis.*2 Annual production & shipment’ totals are not published by IBTS, but calculated and referenced by the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (‘MHARR’), and EducateMHC.
Unfortunately, the annual production & shipment totals reported by these manufactured housing advocacy entities rarely agree! Here’s how the 2024 December and year end production & shipment totals have been recently reported:
IBTS 7,078 MHs produced & shipped during December 2024; no annual total given
MHI 7,048 MH shipments in December 103,571 MH shipments during 2024
MHARR 7,078 MHs produced in December 103,314 MH produced during 2024
EducateMHC 7,078 MHs produced in December 103,314 MH produced during 2024
For record-keeping purposes, relative to this (December) ‘Total U.S. Housing Starts’ report, we’ll be featuring the 7,078 and 103,314 HUD-code housing totals in the next edition of the manufactured housing industry’s historical record: SWAN SONG, available for purchase via www.educatemhc.com
Then there is modular & panelized (‘prefab’) housing, two more types of offsite construction (again, a.k.a. factory-built housing), neither tracked by anyone! Why? Offsite construction units like these are built to local building codes (e.g. International Code Council or ICC), so are nearly impossible to research and categorize. However, some housing professionals suggest this formula: 2% of seasonally-adjusted annual housing starts, per U.S. Census Bureau reporting, then reduce to a monthly figure (e.g.1,499,000 X .02, divided by 12 months) = 2,498 modular & panelized units fabricated during December 2024.
Park Model RVs (‘recreational vehicles’) production is tracked and reported monthly by the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (‘RVIA’) via their online publication RVIA News (e.g. 273 Park Model RVs produced during December 2024). Why Park Model RVs? An increasing number of Park Model RVs are being used as permanent housing, particularly in Sunbelt regions of the U.S. And it appears some HUD-Code housing manufacturers are routinely fabricating Park Model RVs, some even in compliance with the HUD-Code, blurring the lines between these two types of offsite construction.
Now to pull the four pieces together (i.e. ‘single-family, site-built housing’, and three types of offsite construction or factory-built housing), beginning with the latter category – all during December 2024:
- HUD-Code manufactured housing unit production/shipments 7,078
- Modular & panelized (‘prefab’) formulaic estimate (2%/12) 2,498
- Park Model RVs produced 273
- Offsite construction subtotal for December 2024 9,849
- U.S. Census Bureau site-built housing ‘starts’ during December 124,916
- (+) Offsite construction subtotal for December 2024 + 9,849
- Grand total of all U.S. Housing Starts during December 2024 134,765
- (-) 2498 Modular & panelized units, to offset double count 132,267
Bottom Line: True ‘Total U.S. Housing Starts’ during December 2024 = 132,367
End Notes.
- Offsite construction. ‘Refers to the planning, design, manufacture, and assembly of building elements at a location different from their final location, to support the rapid spread of and efficient construction of a permanent structure.’ Wikipedia
- Production & Shipment totals of MHs by IBTS are usually mirror totals in the institute’s monthly reports to subscribers.
STOCK MARKET REPORT FOR 3 FEBRUARY 2025*1
BRK-A Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (Clayton Homes) $697
SKY Skyline Champion Corporation $92.09
CVCO Cavco Industries, Inc. $520.80
LEGH Legacy Housing Corporation $25.65
NOBH Nobility Homes $30.00
ELS Equity Lifestyle, Inc. $65.76
SUI Sun Communities, Inc. $127.18
UMH UMH Properties, Inc. $18.05
TSC Flagship Communities, Inc. $20.84
MHPC Manufactured Housing Properties, Inc. $.62
Manufactured housing/land lease community Composite Stock Index (‘CSI’) @ 3 February 2025 = $1,000.00; up from $929, and still well above the $790.07 base established in January 2022.
End Note.
- Five manufactured housing manufacturers and five portfolio land lease community owners/operators
CORRECTION
Last week we introduced you to the RV/MH Hall of Fame Class of 2025, but inadvertently omitted one name and spelled another incorrectly. SO, here’s an accurate list of the manufactured housing/land lease community members of this Class of 2025 enshrinees:
Mark Rukar. Longtime independent (street) MHRetailer and owner/operator of several land lease communities in Michigan.*1
Bill Poynter. Manufacturer/MHRetailer with Guerdon Industries in Lexington, KY
Kurt Kelley. Insurance executive and founder of Mobile Insurance, also publisher of Manufactured Housing Review online newsletter, in Spring, TX.
Nelson Steiner. Veteran landlease community portfolio owner/operator, founder of Steiner Communities in Tampa, FL.
Steven Schaub. Senior executive of YES! Communities in Denver, CO., a longtime portfolio community owner/operator of land lease communities throughout the U.S.
Why not use this CORRECTION notice as a motivating reminder to buy your banquet tickets now, to attend the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on 18 August 2025. You’ll be dining with more than 500 of your peers from the MH & RV industries at the beautiful RV/MH Hall of Fame museum and library facility in Elkhart, IN. Contact via (574)293-2344 or via website online. I certainly plan to be present to enjoy meeting many many friends in our unique business environments. GFA
End Note.
- Are these three trade terms unfamiliar to you? Well, the ‘independent (street) MHRetailer’ moniker was coined by longtime Iowa-based MH/RV industry consultant William Carr. And the ‘owner/operator’ label originated with David Helfand, past senior executive with ELS & ARC REITs. And the ‘land lease community’ moniker is fairly common parlance today, originating around year 2010.
George Allen