MHI’s Monthly Economic Report© for July 2010 is now available.

The Manufactured Housing Institute’s actual shipments report indicates that 4,257 new HUD Code homes were shipped in July 2010, down 3.8 percent from July 2009. Trends by housing type varied with multi-section home shipments down compared with the same month last year, while single section home shipments showed an increase.

In looking across the first seven months of 2009, 2010 started off with a decline in January (down 17.4 percent). Shipments in February were essentially flat. March, April, May and June all registered gains followed by July’s decline. Over the period, total industry shipments stand at 30,659 homes compared with 28,822 homes in 2009, a year-to-date increase of 6.4 percent.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of shipments was 54,247 in July, down by 8.4 percent from the rate of 59,235 posted in June. The SAAR corrects for normal seasonal variations in shipments and projects an annual shipments pace based on the current monthly total.

Total floors shipped in July 2010 were 6,828, down 8 percent from the same month in 2009. The number of plants reporting production in July was 134, up one from the prior month, and the number of reporting corporations was 57, unchanged from the June figure.

If you are an MHI member, you can access the report on MHI’s website at www.manufacturedhousing.org.