Blog Posting # 839; Copyright 11 April 2025. EducateMHC
Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’), comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, considering various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel of ‘home only’ loans & real estate-secured mortgages), describes post-production segment of MH.
EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production levels 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 board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large of MHInsider ,magazine.
TOTAL U.S. HOUSING COMPLETIONS DURING FEBRUARY 2025
‘Onsite & Offsite Construction Totals Combined!’
This Total U.S. Housing Completion Report combines input from the U.S. Census Bureau (i.e. monthly onsite construction completions); and, offsite construction completions, via combination of formula (re: modular & panelized units estimated to be @ 2% of onsite construction completions), Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’) monthly survey data of HUD-Code housing production & shipments, and finally, RVIA website for Park Model RV production data.
Bottom line? Unlike the U.S. Census Bureau, that reports only onsite construction completion estimates; plus IBTS’ HUD-Code housing production volume, and RVIA ‘s Park Model RV unit count, this ‘total U.S. housing completion’ report presents a more accurate, all-encompassing picture of total U.S. housing completions for the month being reported! This month, the U.S. Census Bureau reports 132,667 new single-family, site-built, privately-owned housing completions (i.e. 1,592,000 divided by 12 months); while the true overall total, when including four types of offsite construction (Again, HUD-Code housing, modular units & panelized homes, plus Park Model RVs) is 143,887 units for the month of February 2025.
That’s a difference of 11,220 units completed during the month of February 2025, or 134,640 offsite construction units when annualized. And, when the 143,887 offsite construction units are added to the 1,592,000 onsite completions, the grand total estimated annual figure is 1,736,887.
What tells the more accurate and useful story? Just the limited view onsite construction picture OR the one that presents onsite and offsite construction totals together?
Once again, the ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions Report’ is a work in progress. Please let us know what you think of this all housing inclusive concept via gfa7156@aol.com
Call for Unity & Better Advocacy…continued
Last week this blogger referenced a recent Press Release describing MHARR’s recent meeting with HUD Secretary Scott Turner and senior HUD staff on March 25, to suggest the manufactured housing industry might be better served by one national trade entity instead of two. Ended the blog by requesting reader input. And input we received. Here’re but samples of reader opinion:
From a veteran MH industry veteran and RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee. “George. You will remember that a merger (between MHI & MHARR) was almost made years ago (15+/- years ago as I recall. GFA), but my memory suggests that _____ scuttled it. MHI director at the time was a woman. It is my opinion the head of HUD changes often – though Dr. Carson did a great job. However, the players in the bowels of the department stay constant (i.e. career employees) and they make the decisions. I believe the home builders (i.e. NAHB) have more sway over the department than the MH builders and entities. My two cents worth.”
Then there’s the finagling of IBTS data each month that, like the marginal public image of MH, negatively affects the credibility of our industry. The nature of the finagling? One national advocacy entity reports IBTS monthly production/shipment totals as received, unadulterated. The other national advocacy entity, each month, deducts the number of Destination Pending units shown for the current month, then adds back the number of Destination Pending units from the previous reporting month, before reporting to members. End result? The manufactured housing industry never has ‘just one’ total of new HUD-Code homes produced in any given month – but two.
And then there’s this. Most industries seem to have an idea of their national economic impact. Manufactured housing does not! For example, here’s the ‘RVs Move America Economic Impact Study’ summary: “The RV Industry Association’s latest economic impact study in 2022 measured the impact the RV economy has on jobs, wages, taxes, and spending. The study revealed the RV industry had an overall economic impact to the U.S. economy of $140 billion, supporting nearly 680,000 jobs, contributing more than $48 billion in wages and paying over $13.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.” Think how impressive and influential such an economic impact would be where HUD-Code manufactured housing and land lease communities are concerned!
George Allen