With affordability remaining an ongoing concern through 2023, mobile homes are seen as a potential cure, but they’re also temporarily becoming expensive, according to a study by Lendingtree.
The rate of price growth of manufactured towable mobile home units accelerated by 77.1% between 2017 and 2022, the online loan market platform found in an analysis of government surveys. A new mobile unit in the U.S. currently now sells for an average of $127,300.
By comparison, the cost of a permanently built single-family home (which would possibly come with another manufactured housing bureaucracy) increased by 46. 7% over the same five-year period, reaching an average of $430,808.
The average cost of a mobile home is now over $100,000 in the 47 states included in Lendingtree’s analysis. Alaska, Hawaii and Rhode Island were excluded due to lack of data. The average cost increased the most in Wyoming, at 127. 6%, while in Massachusetts it fell in charges, at 5%.
In Lendingtree’s research on cellphone home charges, Kansas leads all states in affordability. In 2022, the average cost of a home was $100,800 in the Sunflower State, up 58. 5% from $63,600 in 2017. Ohio and Nebraska followed with average charges of $101,200 and $101,900, respectively. .
The highest number of mobile homes were purchased in the West in 2022. Idaho had the maximum median cost of $168,500, up 82. 6% from $92,300 five years earlier. Neighboring Montana came in second with $160,600, followed by Arizona with $160,500.
In spite of the steep increase, the price of a mobile home still comes in more than $300,000 lower compared to a permanent dwelling. While buyers of towable homes may face hurdles, including land-access fees and difficulty in reselling, “a mobile home could be a good investment depending on who’s buying the property and their needs,” wrote Jacob Channel, Lendingtree’s senior economist.
But financing a home loan with a cell phone is potentially a formidable task for both buyers and lenders. “Getting a home loan with a cell phone can be complicated and expensive for borrowers with poor credit scores or those looking to buy one on land they don’t own. “” the channel added.
Housing finance policies have also slowed growth. Mobile home financing is in the form of real estate or privately owned loans, which account for 70% of the market, according to several real estate groups in a recent call to action. But neither the Federal Housing Administration nor the U. S. Department of Agriculture have insured any furniture loans in 2022, while government-sponsored businesses have not subsidized any in 15 years. This makes providing such loans unattractive to many lenders. The USDA has only insured 146 manufactured homes in 2022.
With little progress in addressing the lack of affordable housing sources over the past two years, there is pressure to update policies, adding FHA Title 1 regulations governing manufactured and cellular housing. The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentEarlier this year, the U. S. Department of Homeland Security created a new stand-alone program for manufactured housing, overseen by FHA Commissioner Julia Gordon.
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