Mobile Home Value Growth Neck and Neck With Site-Built Homes

Mobile home values are appreciating at nearly the same rate as site-built homes, says a new study by the Urban Institute. Traditional homes appreciated by 3.8 percent, and mobile home value grew by 3.4 percent annually.

The report examines mobile homes financed with loans backed by government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, though Realtor.com reports that most buyers of manufactured homes who finance the purchase use chattel loans, subject to higher interest rates, rather than traditional mortgage loans as they don't purchase land with the structure. “Although there are limits to what the data can tell us, the index suggests a need to reevaluate the presumption that manufactured homes do not appreciate at the same rate as site-built homes,” write the Urban Institute researchers.

In recent years, home prices have actually risen at a faster clip for manufactured, or mobile, homes than they have for traditional properties. But that trend is not always easy to see, because manufactured housing is more popular in parts of the country where the overall recovery from the housing crisis has been less robust. For instance, California represents nearly 18 percent of the nation’s overall housing market, but it comprises just 4 percent of the manufactured housing market based on the number of units shipped.

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