Increasingly Concerning Manufactured Housing Production Decline Continues in February 2023
INCREASINGLY CONCERNING MH PRODUCTION
DECLINE CONTINUES IN FEBRUARY 2023
Washington, D.C., April 3, 2023 – 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 housing industry year-over-year production declined sharply in February 2023. Just-released statistics indicate that HUD Code manufacturers produced 6,577 homes in February 2023, a 29.1% decrease from the 9,281 new HUD Code homes produced in February 2022. Cumulative production for 2023 is now 13,528 homes, a 26.4% decrease from the 18,391 homes produced over the same period during 2022.
A further analysis of the official industry statistics shows that the top ten shipment states from January 2023 — with monthly, cumulative, current year (2023) and prior year (2022) shipments per category as indicated — are:
The production decline indicated by the February 2023 official statistics now marks the fifth consecutive month of production declines within the manufactured housing industry. Worse yet, the degree of year-over-year decline continues to steepen, with progressively greater declines over each month of that five-month period. Again, all of this is occurring at a time of unprecedented demand for affordable housing, thus illustrating once again, not only the long-term destructive impacts of discriminatory zoning and consumer financing on the HUD Code manufactured housing market, but also the failure of federal affordable housing aid and assistance to “reach the ground” for manufactured housing consumers, as illustrated by MHARR’s July 2023 White Paper on that subject. The steepening decline could also represent the leading edge of severely negative market impacts that are certain to correspond with the introduction of ultra-costly federal “energy” standards for manufactured housing, and market anticipation of those standards. Regardless, however, the industry and its representatives cannot simply stand by as the market viability of the industry’s homes is undermined. Therefore, decisive industry action to address and resolve these crucial post-production matters (i.e., zoning and consumer financing discrimination), as advocated by MHARR, is long overdue.
In conjunction with the above-referenced and destructive DOE “energy” rule, the underlying enabling law, as most industry members are not yet currently aware, necessarily ties manufactured housing energy standards to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), thus institutionalizing ongoing automatic cost increases with each new iteration of the IECC under its three-year revision cycle. MHARR has already analyzed this looming threat and will share that analysis with the industry and public later this week.
The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is a Washington, D.C.-
based national trade association representing the views and interests of independent producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing.
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR)
1331 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Suite 512
Washington D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: MHARR@MHARRPUBLICATIONS.COM
Website: manufacturedhousingassociation.org
INCREASINGLY CONCERNING MH PRODUCTION
DECLINE CONTINUES IN FEBRUARY 2023
Washington, D.C., April 3, 2023 – 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 housing industry year-over-year production declined sharply in February 2023. Just-released statistics indicate that HUD Code manufacturers produced 6,577 homes in February 2023, a 29.1% decrease from the 9,281 new HUD Code homes produced in February 2022. Cumulative production for 2023 is now 13,528 homes, a 26.4% decrease from the 18,391 homes produced over the same period during 2022.
A further analysis of the official industry statistics shows that the top ten shipment states from January 2023 — with monthly, cumulative, current year (2023) and prior year (2022) shipments per category as indicated — are:
The production decline indicated by the February 2023 official statistics now marks the fifth consecutive month of production declines within the manufactured housing industry. Worse yet, the degree of year-over-year decline continues to steepen, with progressively greater declines over each month of that five-month period. Again, all of this is occurring at a time of unprecedented demand for affordable housing, thus illustrating once again, not only the long-term destructive impacts of discriminatory zoning and consumer financing on the HUD Code manufactured housing market, but also the failure of federal affordable housing aid and assistance to “reach the ground” for manufactured housing consumers, as illustrated by MHARR’s July 2023 White Paper on that subject. The steepening decline could also represent the leading edge of severely negative market impacts that are certain to correspond with the introduction of ultra-costly federal “energy” standards for manufactured housing, and market anticipation of those standards. Regardless, however, the industry and its representatives cannot simply stand by as the market viability of the industry’s homes is undermined. Therefore, decisive industry action to address and resolve these crucial post-production matters (i.e., zoning and consumer financing discrimination), as advocated by MHARR, is long overdue.
In conjunction with the above-referenced and destructive DOE “energy” rule, the underlying enabling law, as most industry members are not yet currently aware, necessarily ties manufactured housing energy standards to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), thus institutionalizing ongoing automatic cost increases with each new iteration of the IECC under its three-year revision cycle. MHARR has already analyzed this looming threat and will share that analysis with the industry and public later this week.
The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform is a Washington, D.C.-
based national trade association representing the views and interests of independent producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing.
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR)
1331 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Suite 512
Washington D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: MHARR@MHARRPUBLICATIONS.COM
Website: manufacturedhousingassociation.org
