Mobile home prices surged by 77% in 5 years

With affordability remaining a consistent concern throughout 2023, mobile homes are often seen as a potential remedy, but they, too, are quickly becoming expensive, according to Lendingtree research.

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 for a single-family property built on a permanent site (which may include other forms of prefabricated housing), rose by 46.7% over the same five-year period to average $430,808.

The average cost of a mobile home is now more than $100,000 across all 47 states included in Lendingtree's analysis. Alaska, Hawaii and Rhode Island were excluded for lack of sufficient data. Average prices surged the most in Wyoming at 127.6%, while Massachusetts recorded the only drop in costs at 5%.  

In Lendingtree's analysis of mobile home prices, Kansas led all states in affordability. In 2022, the average cost of a property came in at $100,800 in the Sunflower State, up 58.5% from $63,600 in 2017. Ohio and Nebraska followed with average prices of $101,200 and $101,900, respectively.

The most expensive mobile homes were purchased in the West in 2022. Idaho had the priciest average cost of $168,500, surging 82.6% from $92,300 five years earlier. Neighboring Montana landed in second place at $160,600, followed by Arizona at $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 mobile home loan is potentially a formidable task for both buyers and lenders. "Securing a loan for a mobile home can be challenging and costly for borrowers with poor credit scores or those trying to buy one on land they don't own," Channel added.

Policies surrounding how the homes are funded have also suppressed growth. Financing for a mobile home typically takes the form of personal-property, or chattel, loans which make up 70% of the market, according to several housing groups in a recent call to action. But neither the Federal Housing Administration nor the U.S. Department of Agriculture insured any chattel loans in 2022, while the government-sponsored enterprises have not backed one in 15 years. That makes offering such loans unattractive to many lenders. The USDA only insured 146 manufactured homes in 2022. 

With the little headway made to address the lack of affordable housing supply over the past two years, the pressure is on for updates to policies, including the FHA's Title 1 regulations governing manufactured and mobile homes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development created a new independent office for manufactured housing programs overseen by the FHA Commissioner Julia Gordon earlier this year.    

And in their October letter addressed to the USDA's Rural Housing Service, leaders of the Manufactured Housing Institute, Community Home Lenders of America and Mortgage Bankers Association also proposed reforms to its program that could increase issuance and securitization of loans.