Arlington, VA, February 4, 2010–The Manufactured Housing Institute’s actual shipments report indicates that 3,573 new HUD-Code homes were shipped in December 2009, down 20.1 percent from December 2008. Shipments of single-section homes were down 33.5 percent, year over year, while shipments of multi-section homes were down 9 percent.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of shipments was 53,300 in December, up 16.1 percent from the rate of 45,900 posted in November. The SAAR corrects for normal seasonal variations in shipments and projects an annual shipments pace based on the current monthly total.

Total shipments for 2009 are 49,789, down 39.2 percent from 2008. Single-section shipments are down 38.7 percent, while multi-section shipments are down 39.3 percent.

Year-over-year shipments were up in one Division and down in eight Divisions. Shipments were up in the New England (27.8 percent) Division. Shipments were down in the East South Central (-35.8 percent), West North Central (-29.4 percent), Pacific (-26 percent), Mountain (-24 percent), East North Central (-22.5 percent), West South Central (-13.4 percent), Middle Atlantic (-12.6 percent) and South Atlantic (-5.3 percent) Divisions.

In December 2009, shipments were up in 11 states down in 25 states and flat in 13 states, compared to December 2008. Shipments were up in New Hampshire (200 percent), Tennessee (82.1 percent), Delaware (52.9 percent), Idaho (45.5 percent), Arkansas (31.3 percent), West Virginia (28.6 percent), Maine (24.1 percent), Kentucky (18.6 percent), South Carolina (15.6 percent), Ohio (11.4 percent) and Florida (5.2 percent). Shipments were flat in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Colorado, Vermont, Kansas, New Mexico, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, South Dakota, Iowa, Massachusetts and Alaska.

Shipments were down in Alabama (-68 percent), Nebraska (-66.7 percent), Minnesota (-64.4 percent), North Dakota (-57.9 percent), Wyoming (-55.9 percent), Nevada (-50 percent), Michigan (-49.3 percent), Wisconsin (-46.2 percent), Indiana (-36.9 percent), Utah (-35.7 percent), Montana (-31.8 percent), Arizona (-31.5 percent), Oregon (-27 percent), California (-27 percent), Washington (-26.9 percent), Louisiana (-26.8 percent), Pennsylvania (-24.4 percent), North Carolina (-23.6 percent), Georgia (-23.1 percent), Missouri (-19 percent), Maryland (-13.2 percent), Texas (-12.1 percent), Virginia (-10 percent), Mississippi (-9.7 percent) and Oklahoma (-7.9 percent).

Total floors shipped in December were 5,866, down 16.2 percent from December 2008. The number of reporting plants for December was 156, unchanged from November 2009. The number of corporations was 61, also unchanged from November. More details will be forthcoming in MHI’s Monthly Economic Report for December.

For Questions on Statistics & Data: Thayer Long, tlong@mfghome.org