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”Ma” Williams, manufactured and modular homes
The 2016 Manufactured Housing Boom
There are some interesting events happening at the moment in the manufactured housing industry.
Thus far in 2016, mobile home parks have recorded more than $6 billion in sales. The investment community is also taking a closer look at the industry, as people who usually opt for more traditional real estate investments are now adding manufactured home communities to their portfolio.
These developments should also be of interest to manufactured or modular home residents, or to those that are considering a manufactured home purchase.
Why? Investors only flock to products or industries that they believe are primed for healthy growth. The demand for lower-cost housing, which has held steady since the recession of 2007, has been met in part by manufactured homes and communities.
We are approaching ten years from that seismic economic catastrophe, and most Americans still don’t have a great deal of confidence in the economy. That bodes well for an industry that provides quality homes at a price far below that of site-built housing.
Investor interest also helps to confirm that the stigma once attached to manufactured homes (back when they were only referred to as mobile homes) has largely disappeared. We still need the popular culture to catch up – TV shows like Trailer Park Boys certainly don’t help – but that is not a problem unique to this industry. Ask any doctor or lawyer and they’ll tell you their job is very different in real life from the way it is portrayed in movies and on television.
Bottom line: the industry is in a good place right now. That means a lot of quality product available for home buyers, investment capital that may help to raise the quality of life in manufactured home communities, and greater public awareness that manufactured homes offer the same style, security and amenities as site-built homes, but at a more reasonable cost.
