Site-Built Home Sales Tumble As Manufactured Housing Shipments Continue To Surge
Sales of previously occupied homes slowed for the third consecutive month in April as mortgage rates surged, driving up borrowing costs for would-be-buyers as home prices soared to new highs. The median home price in April jumped 14.8% from a year ago at this time to $391,200! That’s an all-time high according to data going back to 1999, the National Association Realtors (NAR) said.
In April, the weekly average mortgage rate on a 30-year fixed rate home loan climbed above 5% for the first time in more than a decade, crimping would-be homeowners’ purchasing power at the outset of the spring homebuying season, traditionally the busiest period for home sales.
With inflation at a four-decade high, rising mortgage rates elevated home prices, and a tight supply of homes for sale, homeownership has become less attainable, especially for first-time buyers, in the traditional sense.
Meanwhile, manufactured housing is offering more Americans a path to quality affordable homeownership, as new manufactured home production and sales growth continue at a record pace despite multiple headwinds, including supply chain disruptions, workforce issues, and inflationary pressures.
The shipments of new manufactured homes in March 2022 increased 21.5 percent compared to February 2022. Also, an increase of 12.8 percent compared to March 2021. In the year 2021, the production and shipment of new manufactured homes reached the highest levels since 2006 according to official statistics maintained by the Manufactured Housing Institute. (MHI).
Manufactured Home Producers Expanding Capacity To Accommodate The Surging Demand for Amerca’s Only Remaining Quality Affordable Housing
Today’s modern high-quality manufactured home is “everything a home should be,” and is at least equal, and often superior to a site-built home in every respect, and will have a cost up to 50% less (not including land costs) than a comparable new or existing site-built home. That gap continues to widen.
It is obvious to many in the manufactured housing industry that manufactured homes will continue to be the prevailing source of attainable affordable homeownership now and in the future.
At present, there are 141 active home manufactured housing building plants located across all geographical areas of the country. All are experiencing an ever-increasing influx of customer-ordered manufactured homes. The unprecedented volume of customer-ordered homes has created backlogs resulting in delivery wait times of several months for custom-built manufactured homes.
Manufacturers are continuing to take actions to expedite the backlog conundrum by providing retailers with an inventory of their most popular homes, allowing home buyers to receive delivery and installation within a few weeks, as well as expanding capacity via existing facilities, and/or acquiring additional building plants to accommodate the surging demand for America’s only remaining quality affordable housing. Following are our recent sample reports of actions being taken by two of the largest manufactured home producers in the U.S.
“Skyline Champion Acquires Scotbilt Homes”
“Skyline Champion Purchases Assets of Manis Custom Home Builders In North Carolina”
