Blog Posting # 783, Copyright 8 March 2024. EducateMHC
Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable & attainable factory-built housing! And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! And EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trend tracker, and information resource for both business models. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, & visit www.educatemhc.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole MH-focused professional property management text in print today! And SWAN SONG is a 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 author and freelance consultant.’’
George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, is the only emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH all of Fame enshrinee, MHInsider editor at large & Allen Legacy columnist, Vietnam combat veteran & retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, as well as author/editor of 20 nonfiction books & chapbooks re MH, communities, business management & prayer.
Offsite Construction & Manufactured Housing
‘A Rare Opportunity to Compile & Use Housing Construction Statistics!’
Offsite construction (Or apriori, off-site construction) is the newest housing-related shibboleth (‘slogan’) obfuscating (‘’bewildering’) trade terminology associated with 1) NAHB-related modular and panelized houses; 2) HUD-Code manufactured & CrossMod® homes; as well as 3) Park Model & recreational vehicles (‘RVs’) used as affordable housing; nor forgetting accessory dwelling units (‘ADUs’), a.k.a. ‘granny flats’ like Tiny Houses & other minimum size dwellings such as (Gasp!) sophisticated sheds – OK as secondary structures on residential properties, especially in California.*1
What do these eight+ types of ‘housing’ have in common? As the new moniker suggests, they’re fabricated offsite, as in time-proven lingo, ‘factory-built housing’! First print mention of offsite construction occurred between 2015 & 2017. Now there’s a print trade magazine ballyhooing some of the mishmash of housing types – See Offsite Builder.
Status today? According to one source of stats, offsite construction volume increased by 23.9 percent between 2021 & 2022, while site-built decreased by 11.2 percent during the same period of time. However, offsite construction, like all other types of housing, experienced a sharp decline during the Great Recession of 2007-2012, and even with this up percentage of market recovery, the number of modular & panelized houses completed is be less than a third of what it was pre-recession.*2
So, what does all this mean? It’s difficult to say, because there’s no one mutually-accepted ‘scorekeeper’ tracking more than a half dozen types of ‘housing’ described in the opening paragraph. NAHB keeps tabs on modular & panelized housing; the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’) tracks monthly manufactured housing production (including CrossMod® homes) for HUD; the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (‘RVIA’) tallies RV (including Park Models) units shipped; and, ‘Who knows?’ follows ADU performance. For example, all statistics cited so far have nothing to do with HUD-Code manufactured housing! Per IBTS, during year 2023, 89,169 new HUD-Code homes were produced (i.e. down 20 percent from 112,886 in 2023), while RVIA documented 313,174 RVs shipped during year 2023 (i.e. down from 493,268 RVs in 2022). Year 2024? As one would expect, MH & RV producers are optimistic, believing their annual production performance totals will increase over 2023 volume.
As a related sidebar, there’s a new design ADU or Tiny House being built by ZenniHome (google zennihome.com) in Arizona. Models vary in size from 320 to 640 square feet. What’s unique about the design? When sitting on a couch in the center of the home and ready for bed, simply push a remote button and the bed lowers from the ceiling. The larger model features a second or Murphy bed. Need more space in the center room? Push another button and two walls move slightly to increase free space. The units are being built on a Navajo reservation in northern AZ, and are priced around $100,000. Plans are to expand with more plants across the U.S.
Back on topic, statistical ‘confusion’ will reign as long as there is NO plan and/or effort to bring these manifold forms of offsite construction together for data collecting, comparison and reporting purposes! Only then will we, as different but related housing industries, accurately know and understand how many new single-family homes, affordable and otherwise, are being sited each year. We are obviously Not There Now!
How do I see this happening? Actually simpler than, evidently, anyone has imagined. Just need one ‘reporting agency’ to pull together each month, the production totals posted by NAHB, IBTS, & possibly RVIA. Then, on one consolidation worksheet announce said totals, then post a grand total among all or most reporting agencies. Anyone out there willing to give it a try? It almost has to be an independent third party agency with no ‘skin in the game’ where the various types of offsite construction are concerned. If interested in volunteering, or simply want to talk about this housing unity concept, contact me via gfa7156@aol.com
End Notes.
- NAHB = National Association of Home Builders; CrossMod® by dint of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’); and, read ‘RVs as Affordable Housing’ in Visions in Leisure & Business academic journal, January 2024.
- Offsite Builder MAGAZINE, February 2024, ‘The Numbers on Offsite-Built Homes’ by Zena Ryder, pp.33-36. “In 1998, the share of single-family homes built using offsite construction methods was 7%. By 2022, that share had dropped to just 2%. The annual number of single-family homes built offsite has fallen from a high of nearly 80,000 in the late 90s and early 2000s, to just 25,000 today.”
EducateMHC’s ‘MHShipment volume’ @ January 2024 & ‘Stock Market Report’ for 4 March 2024.
Abbreviated summary of subject reports prepared and distributed on 4 March 2024.
Institute for building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’) reported 7,475 new HUD-Code manufactured homes produced during January 2024. This is up 7.5 percent from same period in year 2023.
Among the ten public companies (five @ manufactured housing & five @ land lease communities) seven experienced stock price increases higher than this time last month, while two firms trended downward. Cavco Industries experienced the largest improvement, from $342.14 up to $371.50; Skyline Champion Corporation improved from $69.93 up to $85.16.
HUD Introduces $225M Manufactured Housing Plan
From ‘National Mortgage News, 2/29 Finkelstein. “An initiative by the Biden Administration is creating a $225 million fund to preserve and revitalize manufactured housing and the communities that many of those structures reside in.” The Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement Program (‘PRICE’) will offer financing through the FHA 223(f) multifamily Program, including funds for rehabilitating these homes. Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon said, “FHA’s updated and expanded financing options complement the work of our colleagues in HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development and Ginnie Mae, meanwhile, has revised its eligibility criteria for the Manufactured Housing Mortgage-Backed Securities program, reducing net worth and liquidity requirements. President Alanna McCargo said, “We’ve consulted the industry and worked closely with FHA to update and align our Title I eligibility requirements to support more financing in tandem with the vast improvements FHA is making to its program.”