MHI’s Monthly Economic Report© for April 2011 is now available.

The Manufactured Housing Institute’s shipments report indicates that 3,954 new HUD-code homes were shipped in April 2011, down 17.9 percent from April 2010. Decreases were across the board with both single-section and multi-section home shipments down compared with the same month last year.

Compared with 2010, this year has started off with declines in the first four months. Industry shipments for the year-to-date stand at 13,650 homes compared with 15,949 homes in the previous year, a net decrease of 14.4 percent.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of shipments was 45,028 in April, down 11.6 percent from the rate of 50,920 in March 2011. The SAAR corrects for normal seasonal variations in shipments and projects annual shipments based on the current monthly total.

Total floors shipped in April 2011 were 6,138, down 21.7 percent from the same month in 2010. The number of plants reporting production in April was 124, and the number of corporations was 45, both the same as reported in March.

Click here to access the April 2011 report. If you are an MHI member, you can also access the report on MHI’s website at www.manufacturedhousing.org.