The seasonally annually adjusted rate (SAAR) projections suggest that 2017 will finish with some 92,000 new HUD Code manufactured housing units built this year.
Using data from July 2017, the Census Bureau said that the ‘average’ manufactured home sales price was hovering around $75,000.
Seasoned MH Industry professionals and investors know that this average sales price number – a mix of the single- and multi-sectional pricing – has and will climb steadily.
As wages are rising, so too are the prices of the commodities used to build a manufactured home.
Fuel
One manufactured home cost item that’s held fairly steady this year has been fuel.
Fuel is needed in the transportation of products to production plants, and with finished homes to shipped to retailers, communities, or to so-called builder/developers. GasBuddy reported on January 4, 2017 that “The average cost for a regular gallon of fuel is expected to spike to $2.49, up from $2.13 in 2016.” But on December 18, 2017, the national average dropped three cents to $2.43. Consider the impact of supply and demand, as growing U.S. energy output has helped keep prices stable.
Manufactured Home Shipments Table
Contrast the above to the Oct, 2017 new conventional ‘on site’ building construction data.
As prior reports on the Daily Business News have revealed, there are some 8 million new housing units needed in America.
NAR’s Yun – No Quick Fixes Spell$ Manufactured Housing Opportunitie$
Current and former Tech Giants have come to the conclusion that only Factory-Home building can close that gap.
Meet the Modular Housing Builder Google Picked, and their “Industrial Cathedral”
Bill Gates’ Subsidiary Belmont Plans Smart City of Future, What Role Will Factory Built Homes Play?
Plans for Floating Modular Cities, “Seasteading” is Becoming Reality
Conventional housing builders, including those who produce multi-family housing units, under current constraints, can’t achieve that 8 million units needed. But the facts show that those conventional home builders are presently far outpacing manufactured home builders. See Yun’s report for NAR, linked above.
Fact & Expert Based Takeaways for Professionals, Investors
What does all this mean to manufactured home professionals and investors?
There are several takeaways possible.
First, the opportunities are perhaps the best than at any time since the post World-War II era. Who says? Consider the point award winning veteran retailer Alan Amy makes in the video below.
Second, what the industry has witnessed over the past 19 years is:
- about a decade of declining sales,
- followed by 8 years of slowly rising sales. Yet, the pre-HUD Code ‘mobile home’ industry was doing far better than the post-HUD code manufactured home industry has. Sales plummeted after the peak years of the early 1970s, which were during the mobile home era.
40th birthday of Manufactured Housing, End of Mobile Home era – manufacturedhomelivingnews.com
Lakeland, Fla. June 15, 1976 – Ever since the industrial revolution, factories have been a driving force in the economy – and in American culture. But the fact that millions of those 1950s- to mid-70s-era homes still exist today is silent testimony that they, too, often had enduring qualities.
For those researching or new to the industry, the “Walk Down Memory Lane” 7 ½ minute video with an RV MH Hall of Fame veteran, Dick Moore spotlights the evolution from trailer houses, to mobile homes to manufactured homes from an eye witness to each of those eras.
Third. Given the industry was projected by third-party researchers to dominate in the 2000s and beyond. Tt has clearly failed to achieve that potential.
Appealing Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) Marketing, Finance Booklet Reviewed
Fourth. Opportunities in disguise. While there are many causes and effects, it is clear that the post-production side of the manufactured home industry – those retailers, communities and other firms and organizations that support and manage the post-production interaction with the marketplace have not achieved their potential. Yet there are real world examples of how the industry has in select markets and with specific methods being employed achieved rapid sustained growth, with high CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index).
Last week’s and today’s Monday Morning Sales Meeting cover some key, proven methods for achieving increased growth.
The Christmas gift which can keep on giving for manufactured housing industry professionals and investors will be covered in today’s Monday Morning Sales Meeting. It will look at some of the proven steps needed professionals must consider that consistently yield desired growth in your local market. Because all marketing and sales are local ones, what happens in your market(s) and location(s) are ultimately what will be the most important for your company, investments, and career. ## (News, analysis, commentary, linked data and reports.)
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