Manufactured Home Dealers NAICS 459930

Mar 31, 2025 - Tariffs Could Increase Manufactured Home Prices

• Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are expected to drive up costs for building materials, which could increase production costs for manufactured homes. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that tariffs could increase the costs of building a single-family home by $7,500 to $10,000. Producers of manufactured homes could face similar cost increases, some of which might be passed on to dealers and consumers. On March 4, Trump placed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and increased the tariff on all Chinese imports to 20%. Two days later, the Mexico and Canada tariffs were postponed for 30 days for products that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The Trump administration has also said widespread “reciprocal” tariffs would go into effect in early April. On March 12, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all US steel and aluminum imports.
• In February, the Pew Charitable Trusts convened lenders, manufactured housing industry experts, and other stakeholders to discuss how federal and state policy changes could modernize manufactured home financing to open homeownership to more Americans. Suggested policy changes included an update to titling practices. Mortgages are the most affordable means of financing manufactured homes due to relatively low interest rates and longer repayment terms. However, in most jurisdictions, manufactured homes face hurdles in being titled as real estate, which makes them eligible for mortgage loans. In most cases, manufactured homes are titled as personal property – like a motor vehicle – leading borrowers to rely on riskier contract loans instead of mortgages. Pew suggests state reforms to titling regulations could open up manufactured home purchases to a broader pool of potential buyers.

• US shipments of manufactured homes increased by 25.4% month-over-month in January 2025, according to the US Census Bureau. On a year-over-year basis, January’s sales were up 18.7% compared to January 2024. Manufactured housing has tended to be countercyclical during tough economic times because it is one of the lowest-cost options for housing in the US. High interest rates, a lack of affordability in the single-family housing market, and high multifamily rents could boost manufactured home demand.
• In January, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a lawsuit against a Berkshire Hathaway-affiliated lender, alleging the firm ignored obvious red flags that consumers could not afford the loans they took out to buy manufactured homes, according to the Associated Press. After flaws in the US mortgage market triggered the Great Recession in 2008, Congress passed legislation requiring all residential mortgage lenders to verify that borrowers could afford their loans. The CFPB lawsuit claims that Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance failed to comply fully with this requirement. In a company statement, Vanderbilt said the CFPB’s allegations are untrue and that it complies with all applicable regulations and verifies borrowers’ incomes and living expenses when issuing loans. In February, the Trump administration – working in concert with the Department of Government Efficiency – effectively shut down the CFPB, ordered a stop on all work, and terminated over 100 probationary and term employees, according to NPR. In late March, a federal judge blocked the shuttering of the CPFB and ordered the fired workers to be reinstated pending a lawsuit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union.