“Potential home sellers in today’s market are caught in a Catch-22. While it’s the most profitable time to sell in a decade, it’s also extremely difficult to find another home to purchase, which is helping to keep homeowners in their homes longer before selling,” said Daren Blomquist, Senior Vice- President at ATTOM Data Solutions.
“And the market is becoming even more competitive, with the share of cash buyers in the second quarter increasing annually for the first time in four years,” Blomquist says.
According to a report by ATTOM Data Solutions, the current tenure for homeowners is 8.05 years, which is up from Q1 2017 when it was 7.85 years.
That’s up from the 7.59 years average from Q2 2016.
With more people staying in their homes longer, and not enough affordable homes being built, the law of supply and demand is at work. Prices for housing is rising.
While it is providing the biggest returns for sellers since Q3 2007 – currently $51,000 (26 percent) – it’s not creating the best environment for buyers, per RealtyTrac.
“An ongoing issue in the greater Seattle area is a lack of supply which is aggressively driving up home prices,” said Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle market.
“The only short-term solution is to build more homes, but thanks to land constraints and construction costs, this simply is not happening at a rate that you would normally expect in a market like this. Unfortunately I do not expect this trend to change until zoning and regulation costs change, which is unlikely in the current political climate,” Gardner said.
“Across Southern California we are witnessing concerns over housing affordability keeping homeowners in current homes for longer tenure, and keeping available home inventories low in supply.” said Michael Mahon, president at First Team Real Estate covering the Southern California market.
The Solution No One Seems to See is MH
Manufactured housing would be able to create not a short-term solution, but a long-term one, in the form of affordable housing for the nations most expensive, and in some cases overvalued markets.
With a lower cost of production, the speed at which HUD Code manufactured homes can be made, and the affordable price tag when compared to conventional housing, industry professionals know that this could solve a lot of problems.
So Why Don’t More Manufactured Homes Sell?
In the wake of the Daily Business News’ coverage of Donald Tye Jr. – and his pro-manufactured housing advocacy – he has been contacted by local real estate interests. Tye says, “They’ve never heard about manufactured housing’s preemption.”
That’s revealing.
It also demonstrates the work that must be done by pro-growth professionals.
Barry Noffsinger, John Bostick, Mark Weiss, Donald Tye, Jr., Sam Landy, L. A. “Tony” Kovach and a number other professionals have gone on record saying that the industry could be growing at far more rapid pace.
They say that 300,000, 400,000, half a million or more new manufactured home shipments could be achieved, in a sustainable way.
Is the replacement of Pam Danner – and avoiding Danner’s replacement at HUD by someone like former MHI VP Lois Starkey – going to take place?
For example, in a text by Dick Moore Housing President, Bob Crawford, to MHProNews, he asks, “…is it just me?”
There is a clear lack of understanding of the manufactured housing industry by many mainstream professionals, public officials, the media, and the general public.
Errors are perpetuated by often inaccurate or negative press in the mainstream media.
The only way to combat such woes are for more industry professionals to speak out every time there are problematic reports in local media.
Yet the umbrella association, the Manufactured Housing Institute, routinely fails the industry in this regard, per veterans…and their own members.
“For years, we have wondered WHY there was so little pro-industry advocacy from MHI to government movements, proposals, rules, etc. that were [often] not in the best interest of this industry.” Crawford said.
“…MHI – the industry lobby group…what’s with the concept of silence is golden? Negative articles on the industry are met with “no comment.” Positive news opportunities are met with “no comment.” I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Frank Rolfe, in a prior, related statement to MHProNews.
In a recent Masthead column, publisher L.A. Tony Kovach reflects on the lack of response from MHI on a number of situations including …
- their lack of a position on Pam Danner and the call to remove her from the position of HUD manufactured housing program administrator,
- their seeming refusal to defend the industry against the on-going false claims of mainstream media,
- their habit of misinforming their own members on a number of different issues,
…and more.
Even as we see the housing market improving in some ways – specifically those that benefit sellers – it does nothing to help more people obtain their goal of homeownership while home values continue to rise.
What Blomquist’s data points to, as Barry Noffsinger’s recently indicated, underscores the opportunities for manufactured housing. But it won’t fall into the industry’s laps, these industry veterans say.
Will cities like San Jose, and San Francisco, California, and Denver, Colorado embrace manufactured housing as a solution to their affordable housing supply crisis? Or is that unlikely simply because not enough people know and promote the value of this housing alternative? # # (News, analysis.)
(Image credits are as shown above, and when provided by third parties, are shared under fair use guidelines.)
