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

The Manufactured Housing Institute’s actual shipments report indicates that 4,440 new HUD-Code homes were shipped in September 2010, down 2.0 percent from September 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 a 14 percent increase.

In looking across the first three quarters 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. The month of July showed a year-over-year decline, the upward trend returned in August but shipments again retreated in September. Over the period, total industry shipments stands at 39,961 homes compared with 37,825 homes in 2009, a year-to-date increase of 5.6 percent.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of shipments was 49,199 in September, down by 2.0 percent from the rate of 50,226 in August. 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 September 2010 were 7,020, down 6.0 percent from the same month in 2009. The number of plants reporting production in September was 134, one up from the number in August and the number of reporting corporations was 53, three down from the prior month.

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