Manufactured Home Dealers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,200 manufactured home dealers in the US sell new and/or used manufactured homes, parts, equipment, and related services. Manufactured homes are also known as mobile homes. Product categories include single-section homes and multi-section homes. The majority of sales are for new manufactured homes. The average sales price for a new manufactured home was $108,100 in 2021.
Dependence On Credit
Customers typically rely on third-party lenders to fund manufactured home purchases, and dealers depend on floor-plan financing to fund inventory.
Image Makeover
The manufactured home industry is attempting to move beyond negative images of trailer parks by upgrading units to feel more like site-built homes.
Industry size & Structure
The average manufactured home dealer operates out of a single location, employs 9 workers, and generates $9 million annually.
- The manufactured home dealer industry consists of about 1,200 companies that employ 11,000 workers and generate about $11 billion annually.
- Manufactured homes account for about 9-10% of all new single-family homes sold.
- The industry is fragmented; the top 50 companies account for 57% of sales.
- Manufactured home dealers typically operate on a regional basis. States with large numbers of manufactured homes include Texas, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, and Mississippi.
- Some manufactured home manufacturers are vertically integrated and have retail operations. In addition, some manufactured home communities have dealer licenses.
Industry Forecast
Manufactured Home Dealers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Jan 31, 2025 - CFPB Files Lawsuit Against Manufactured Home Lender
- 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.
- US shipments of manufactured homes decreased by 16.5% month over month in November 2024, according to the US Census Bureau. On a year-over-year basis, November’s sales were up 10.3% compared to November 2023. Manufactured home shipments increased 16% in the first 11 months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. 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 findings released in November, the Pew Charitable Trusts highlighted policy changes that could open homeownership to more Americans by increasing the availability of manufactured homes. In 2023 and 2024, Pew funded three research papers produced by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS). One of the studies showed that due to lower construction costs compared to site-built homes, manufactured homes could save a homebuyer between $50,000 and $100,000. However, the JCHS research suggests that manufactured housing is essentially unavailable in 845 counties, or about 25% of all US counties. Much of the unavailability is due to restrictive zoning laws, which, if reformed, could expand access to homeownership to 3.2 million households that currently rent. Removing zoning barriers could enable lower-cost manufactured homes to fill vacant lots, replace dilapidated housing, and create new subdivisions.
- In September 2024, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the most sweeping update of its regulations of manufactured housing production in more than 30 years. The update to HUD’s Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (HUD Rule) includes 90 new or updated standards to improve efficiencies for manufactured home production and make it easier for manufacturers to offer popular features, including open floor plans, accessibility enhancements, and more precise specifications for attics. The updated HUD rule aims to expedite the manufactured home production process by removing the need for alternative construction approvals for existing HUD-approved materials. The revised rule also allows multi-unit single-family manufactured homes to be built under the HUD Rule for the first time, enabling more cost-effective and denser urban and suburban manufactured housing infill.
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