Washington, D.C., December 2, 2013 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) reports that according to official statistics compiled on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), manufactured housing production showed strong growth once again during October 2013. Just-released statistics indicate that HUD Code manufacturers produced 6,078 homes in October 2013, an increase of 18.5% over the 5,127 HUD Code homes produced during October 2012. Cumulative 2013 industry production now totals 51,373 homes, a 9.2% increase over the 47,036 homes produced over the same period in 2012.
A further analysis of the official industry statistics shows that the top ten shipment states from the beginning of the industry production rebound in August 2011 through October 2013 — with cumulative shipment totals as indicated — are:
1. Texas ——————————– 24,515 homes
2. Louisiana —————————– 9,594 homes
3. Florida ——————————–6,171 homes
4. North Carolina ————————5,530 homes
5. Alabama ——————————5,496 homes
6. Kentucky —————————– 4,958 homes
7. Mississippi —————————- 4,869 homes
8. California —————————– 3,983 homes
9. Oklahoma —————————–3,957 homes
10. Tennessee ————————— 3,934 homes
The latest information for October 2013 moves North Carolina into 4th place and moves California into 8th place, now ahead of both Oklahoma and Tennessee.
As MHARR monthly production reports have indicated, after reaching a modern-low production level of 49,683 homes in 2009, the manufactured housing industry began a gradual but sustained recovery in 2011 (with 51,618 total homes produced) that continued in 2012 (with annual production of 54,881 homes), and is now poised to grow further. With cumulative 2013 production now standing at 51,373 homes and two more months of production statistics left this year, it is all but certain that final 2013 industry production will surpass that of 2012.
Despite this good news, though, according to many experts, a potential storm looms in 2014 for the industry and consumers of affordable housing, with the impending implementation of debilitating regulations under the Dodd-Frank law — and both the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and manufactured housing industry state associations have been working for the past two years to reform relevant aspects of that law. These efforts could ultimately prevent a major setback for the industry’s fragile recovery. In either case, however, the industry needs to re-double efforts to expand the available sources of consumer financing and restore healthy and robust competition to the manufactured home financing market.
