“Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire…”
– part of a children’s rhyme to discourage dishonesty.
“You want to be very careful about lying;
otherwise you are nearly sure to get caught.”
– Mark Twain, advice to youth, per Speakola.
“Just because something isn’t a lie does not mean that it isn’t deceptive.
A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth
in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.”
– Chris Jami, according to Goodreads.
Facts and evidence can be nettlesome things.
The latest new HUD Code manufactured home shipment data is in. And the timing couldn’t have been worse for the Manufactured Housing Institute’s (MHI) new video, which brags about how much they are doing to promote the sales of more manufactured homes.
Can you spell ‘embarrassing?’
For the second month in a row, the shipments of new HUD Code manufactured homes are down, albeit modestly. But during the same timeframe that Kevin Clayton, CEO of Clayton Homes, and MHI’s SVP Lesli Gooch have taken to mainstream and other industry news media (not us) to claim how manufactured housing is being embraced as a solution to the affordable housing crisis, the shipment levels have dipped two months in a row.
Ouch. Embarrassing…
According to the latest data from HUD, and the analysis of the Washington, D.C. based Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR), shipments declined .5 percent over the same month last year.
As MHProNews has alone been reporting to the industry’s professionals for months, there have been numerous warning signs on the horizon.
It’s not a disaster. But it is a cause for quiet concern among some of MHI’s larger members, and the independents alike. There are firms like Legacy Housing that in their recent IPO filing are reporting sales growth that bucks the national trend. For more details on that, click the box below for that distinctive report.
But the national data clearly reflects that overall, sales for the manufactured home industry at large have slipped. State data, as the Daily Business News on MHProNews has reported, reflects the fact that at least two of the top ten manufactured housing states examined have been losing sales, not gaining them. One of those exclusive MHProNews reports is available by clicking the box, linked below, which has distinctive but related data with analysis.
Another Top Manufactured Home State is Sliding on New HUD Code Home Shipments, More New Data
One informed source with long ties to Clayton has said that there are troubling rumors coming from production centers tied to their parent company in Knoxville, TN. Time will tell.
And this two month dip arguably belies MHI’s razzle dazzle claims in their new video, just as the Daily Business News on MHProNews has been warning. See the previously reported screen captures of the latest MHI video, presented as a collage, below. Using their own data, taking them at their word, doesn’t it prove the latest national shipment report clearly demonstrate the opposite of what they are claiming?
Let’s make it simple.
• Over 1/3 of the U.S. are renters. That represents millions upon millions of potential buyers.
• The National Association for Realtors (NAR) said earlier this year that the nation needs 8.3 million more housing units.
• The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) says the nation needs for more affordable housing rental units have risen from 5.8 million to 7.2 million units, per Curbed.
• Manufactured homes are the most affordable kind of new permanent housing in the nation, per NAR’s 2018 research.
• Site builders are stalling on sales, due in part to rising costs and interest rates.
• All of the above are historic reasons why manufactured home sales normally should be rising.
• The RV industry went from trailing manufactured home shipments by 3 to 2 two decades ago, to now outselling manufactured homes by a ratio of some 5 to 1.
• If RVs could grow so much, why not MH?
• And yet given all of the bullets above, new HUD Code manufactured home sales are slipping nationally? Two months in a row?
• How can Kevin Calyton, Tim Williams, Richard ‘Dick’ Jennison or the MHI staff show their faces at Louisville with these troubling results?
See MHARR’s full report, by clicking the linked box below.
Production Flatline Continues in October 2018 | Manufactured Housing Association Regulatory Reform
Washington, D.C., December 3, 2018 – 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), HUD Code manufactured home production declined slightly, once again, in October 2018.
See last month’s HUD Code shipment data by clicking the linked box below.
September 2018 Manufactured Home Production Data Shows Slight Flatline | Manufactured Housing Association Regulatory Reform
Washington, D.C., November 6, 2018 – 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), HUD Code manufactured home production flat-lined slightly in September 2018.
See our pro-active step one of our manufactured housing solutions report from last night, by clicking the linked box below.
#$2Trillion U.S. GDP Growth via Affordable Housing Plan Few Discuss – Introducing #YimbyVictory2020
To better understand the purported deceptions by Berkshire brands and the Arlington, VA based national trade group that they dominate, see the related reports, linked further below. “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (News, analysis, and commentary.)
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