The headquarters for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C.
Proposal Intends to Spark Manufactured Home Innovation, Increase Supply
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that intends to update the definition of a manufactured home and support innovative opportunities for multi-story manufactured housing.
Under the proposed rule, the new definition of a manufactured home, as noted in the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, commonly known as the HUD Code, would allow upper floor sections to be transported and constructed without a permanent chassis.
“America needs more housing, and manufactured housing is part of the solution,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said. “We are removing unnecessary barriers, encouraging innovation, and helping American manufacturers deliver more affordable housing options for American families.”
The proposed expanded definition would support multi-story construction of manufactured homes and empower manufacturers with greater flexibility to design and construct homes to meet growing consumer demand while lowering production costs. The proposed rule would also make corresponding updates to the definition in the Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards and the Manufactured Home Installation Program regulations.
HUD Code homes provide safe and affordable housing for American families and support pathways to stability and wealth building. HUD is working with state and local governments, housing finance agencies, and community developers to advance the programs, infrastructure, and land-use policies needed to support manufactured housing nationwide, the department stated in a June 12, 2026, press release.
More than 20 million Americans across the country reside in manufactured homes, and the manufactured home industry employs tens of thousands of Americans nationwide.
Once a government body posts a document to the Federal Register, it officially enters the public domain, triggering legal notice, public comment periods, or active enforcement.
On March 5, Clayton Homes introduced the industry and the state of Arkansas to its first new facility in a decade, and one that takes a leap forward in technology and efficiency to help build more than 3,000 new homes each year.
Tennessee-based Clayton is a leader in building attainable single-family homes.
“The Conway home building facility represents our vision to develop housing innovations that improve lives and build a better tomorrow,” Clayton’s President of Manufacturing Colt Davis said. “The thousands of homes built here each year will help bring attainable homeownership within reach for families across the region. We are incredibly grateful for the people of Conway welcoming us and for local and state leaders supporting the development of our newest home building facility.”
Clayton was founded in 1956 and is the largest manufacturer in the industry. Its nationwide capabilities include the production of site-built homes, manufactured homes, tiny homes/RV code product, CrossMod®, and modular housing.
New Employment in Arkansas
The new factory, a 220,000-square-foot facility that was purchased and modernized into a homebuilding factory by Clayton during the last two years, will employ about 250 people. Many positions have been filled, with plenty of hiring to do through the spring and into the summer when production will begin.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders addresses Clayton team members and guests during a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new factory. Photos courtesy of Clayton.
Clayton had a ribbon-cutting for the new factory, and many state and local representatives attended.
“Arkansas was recently ranked the number one state for inbound movers for the second year in a row, and companies like Clayton are ensuring that some of these new Arkansas residents not only have an affordable place to live but also a great place to work,” Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “We are incredibly grateful that they chose Conway for their new manufacturing facility, and we are looking forward to the jobs and opportunity this will bring to Central Arkansas and beyond in the years ahead.”
Clayton invested $42 million in modernizing the facility.
Clint O’Neal, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the factory is a welcome addition to the community.
“With the grand opening, Clayton takes an important step in addressing the nationwide housing shortage as well as creating new economic opportunities in Arkansas,” O’Neal said. “Congratulations to Clayton and the community of Conway on this milestone that will bring success for many years to come.”
Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson said the entire region will benefit from the entry of the new employer.
The Arkansas governor, left, talks to homebuilders in the new Clayton factory.
“Clayton is making a significant investment in Faulkner County, and we are excited to celebrate the grand opening of the company’s new home building facility,” Dodson said. “This facility will have a major impact, creating many new jobs in our county and helping drive new growth in the region.”
Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and Conway Development Corporation President and CEO Brad Lacy said.
Clayton had been a great partner in the community since its earliest introduction and that he has a great amount of optimism about the company’s presence in Conway.
“We believed that Clayton would be a good corporate citizen,” Lacy said. “That has proven to be true, and we look forward to growing with them in Conway as a trusted community partner.”
Manufactured housing community owners and operators are in a unique moment. Demand for affordable housing remains strong. Occupancy is steady. Well-run communities continue to produce durable, reliable cash flow.
But today, long-term success is determined by what happens after the deal closes.
Manufactured housing is operationally different from other real estate asset classes. You’re managing homes across multiple vintages. Infill timelines directly impact NOI. Contractor markets are fragmented. Capital decisions often require balancing short-term returns with long-term community health. Small execution gaps, such as deferred maintenance, inconsistent rehab quality, and delayed infill, can rather quietly compound into meaningful financial drag. Most operators don’t struggle because they lack effort. They struggle because execution disciplines don’t scale as fast as acquisitions.
Large institutional owners solve these challenges with layered staffing models, proprietary systems, and formal process controls. Those systems work at massive scale. However, these same systems can be expensive, slow, and unrealistic for independent and mid-sized operators.
Is there any good news? Yes. You don’t need institutional solutions to achieve institutional-level results.
What follows is a practical, right-sized execution framework designed specifically for manufactured housing portfolios. It applies the most valuable lessons from institutional platforms — without importing the overhead or rigidity often associated with larger organizations.
The goal is to create clarity, control, and predictability across CapEx, rehabs, and infill — so operators can scale confidently and protect NOI.
The Six Disciplines That Matter Most in Manufactured Housing Operations
Execution-Ready Scoping Anchored in Home Vintage and Community Reality
In manufactured housing, scoping isn’t just paperwork — it’s capital allocation.
A 1978 home behaves differently than a 1998 home. Neither performs like a new infill unit. When operators apply blanket rehab assumptions across all vintages, they risk overspending in some cases and under-investing in others.
Execution-ready scoping starts with asking the right questions:
How old is the home?
What condition is the infrastructure in?
What rent strategy are we pursuing?
What makes this specific community unique?
When scopes are grounded in real-world conditions instead of assumptions, budgets become tighter, timelines shrink, and change orders decrease. Precision at the front end protects NOI on the back end.
Standardized Scopes and Pricing with Built-In Flexibility
Standardization creates consistency. Defined scopes and clear unit pricing reduce ambiguity, make bids comparable, and allow a contractor’s performance to be measured objectively.
But standardization shouldn’t become rigidity.
Every home and community has nuances. Smart operators create consistent frameworks — but allow room to adjust based on asset condition, rent comps, and long-term hold strategy.
Standardization provides control. Flexibility protects profitability. The operators who balance both are the ones who scale without friction.
Documentation-Driven Accountability
In fragmented contractor markets, documentation is leverage.
Clear photo evidence. Defined milestones. Structured reporting. These are simple practices — they dramatically reduce disputes and accelerate decision-making. They also tie payments directly to verified progress.
In manufactured housing, where projects span multiple communities and secondary markets, visibility matters. But visibility alone isn’t enough. Accountability must be objective and repeatable.
When documentation becomes a habit, rather than an afterthought, it protects capital, improves vendor accountability, and reduces risk across the portfolio.
Scalable Field Oversight Without Operational Bloat
Many manufactured housing portfolios stall — not because acquisitions slow down, but because oversight fails to scale.
Owners either spend too much time traveling between communities or add internal layers that increase overhead without meaningfully improving outcomes. Neither approach is sustainable.
Scalable oversight means defining clear supervision standards, consistent quality controls, and straightforward accountability without building unnecessary bureaucracy.
The goal isn’t complexity. It’s disciplined execution that scales.
Asset-Level KPIs That Protect and Grow NOI
Portfolio-level metrics are important, but they often hide inefficiencies at the community level.
Infill cycle time. Cost per rehab. Scope variance. Rework frequency. These asset-level metrics provide clearer insight into what’s really happening operationally.
In manufactured housing, every pad matters. Every home vintage impacts NOI differently. Operators who measure performance at the asset level improve forecasting, tighten capital deployment, and identify leakage before it compounds.
Measurement isn’t about reporting for reporting’s sake. It’s about protecting yield.
Systems That Preserve Institutional Memory
Manufactured housing portfolios are long-term assets. Yet renovation history often lives in email threads, text messages, or someone’s memory.
That’s a risk.
When scope history, photos, costs, and service records are captured at the home level, knowledge compounds over time. Turnover becomes easier. Underwriting improves. Capital planning gets smarter.
Institutional memory isn’t overhead, it’s an asset. And in long-duration portfolios, that asset grows more valuable every year.
Discipline Without Drag
Manufactured housing doesn’t need institutional complexity to perform at an institutional level.
It needs disciplined execution — applied consistently and scaled intelligently.
Operators who right-size their systems can grow predictably without sacrificing agility. The most successful portfolios aren’t always the largest — they’re the most disciplined.
At BuildCore, we’ve built our platform around these principles: execution-ready scoping, standardized pricing frameworks, scalable field oversight, and purpose-built systems designed specifically for residential portfolios.
Our goal isn’t to replace operator expertise. It’s to strengthen it by providing structure, visibility, and disciplined execution that allow owners to scale confidently without importing unnecessary overhead.
In a sector where small operational gaps compound quickly, disciplined execution isn’t optional. It’s the differentiator.
Wes Cannon is co-founder and COO of BuildCore, a national construction platform supporting single-family, multifamily, and manufactured housing operators. With more than 20 years of experience in residential development and community-level execution, he brings practical, field-tested leadership to renovation, infill, and CapEx strategy. Cannon is passionate about helping operators scale responsibly through disciplined systems, accountability, and execution frameworks tailored to the realities of manufactured housing portfolios. He can be reached at wes@mybuildcore.com.
Champion Homes has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Homes Direct, representing 11 retail locations across the Western U. S. markets.
Founded by Ray Gritton, the retail locations are in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon. The locations represent the majority of Homes Direct’s operating footprint. Champion said the locations align well geographically with its existing manufacturing and distribution presence in the region.
Homes Direct is the largest independent manufactured and modular home dealer in the western region of the United States, with a differentiated business model that engages a broad set of customers, the company stated in a release. It offers a range of options, an elevated purchasing experience, and supports customers through permitting, financing, home selection, and site preparation.
“Through its innovative retail platform and additional go‑to‑market channels, Homes Direct expands Champion’s ability to drive retail growth and sales across key Western markets,” the company stated in a release.
“Homes Direct, led by pioneering industry leader and CEO Ray Gritton, is an outstanding retailer that we’ve admired and worked with for many years,” said Tim Larson, president and CEO of Champion Homes. “Our businesses complement each other well, and Homes Direct’s differentiated retail experience and significant western U.S. presence make this a natural fit.
“We are confident this acquisition strengthens our retail platform and will further our ability to win as a customer-centric, high-performance agile team,” he said.
Gritton said Champion is an ideal long-term partner for Homes Direct, and that he has “significant trust” in its team to take the Homes Direct assets forward.
“We share a strong focus on the customer, delivering a seamless transition for our employees and allowing us to continue delivering a differentiated retail experience while creating a great environment for future growth by expanding our reach across the United States,” Gritton said.
The completion of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Champion’s second quarter of fiscal year 2027. Champion said in an effort to ensure a seamless integration process, all Homes Direct employees at impacted locations will be offered employment by Champion following the completion of the transaction.
A crane drops one module of a home at a time on the southeast side of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Michigan-based Builder Announces Offsite Construction Event in June
Champion Homes is hosting the Offsite Construction Event 2026, a gathering of home builders and developers offering an in-depth look at how offsite construction can help scale a business.
This event is free to attend and will be held June 16-17 in York, Nebraska.
Organizers said The Offsite Construction Event is the only event of its kind in the factory-built housing industry. It highlights how Champion Homes is leading the way in spreading awareness of offsite construction as an important solution for builders; providing an opportunity to build at a faster pace and provide more homes.
“With the Offsite Construction Event, Champion Homes is proud to lead the industry in highlighting how high-quality factory-built homes are a key solution for builders and developers who want to scale their businesses with cost-effective homes built on faster timelines,” Champion Homes Vice President of Builder Developer Scott Thomas said.
High-value insights from the Offsite Construction Event:
Expert Business Strategies: Learn from offsite construction industry leaders at an educational seminar and expert builder panel focused on how to fast-track projects and maximize return on investment.
In-Person Experiences: See a crane set a modular home in a new development.
Interactive Tours: Get an exclusive look inside a Champion Homes manufacturing facility, and step inside new offsite-built homes designed for different types of developments.
Gather With Other Professionals: Make new connections with builders, developers, government officials, and housing industry decision-makers.
Attendees will learn how offsite construction leverages the unique efficiencies of building homes in factories, offering significant time and budget savings. Builders can reduce their construction time by 12 weeks per average build compared to site-built homes, leading to an average savings of 13 percent per average build.
“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to educate builders, developers, and municipal officials about how offsite construction can help them build more homes and eliminate a tremendous number of headaches they currently encounter every day,” Thomas said. “Offsite construction can help builders deliver high-quality projects to their markets faster while our team manages as much as 90 percent of their current trades for them, allowing them to significantly scale their businesses.”
Few sectors of real estate have undergone a perception shift as significant as manufactured housing.
For decades, manufactured housing communities operated largely under the radar of institutional investors. The asset class was often misunderstood and viewed as a niche corner of the housing market. Today, that narrative has changed dramatically.
Manufactured housing now sits at the center of one of the most pressing issues facing the United States: the growing shortage of affordable housing. As home prices and apartment rents continue to rise across the country, manufactured housing and manufactured housing communities, in particular, have emerged as one of the few scalable solutions capable of delivering both affordability and stability.
As we move through 2026, the manufactured housing industry appears to be entering a new phase — one defined less by rapid acceleration and more by maturity, discipline, and increasing recognition of the sector’s importance.
Production Still Lags Behind Demand
Manufactured home deliveries have stabilized near the 100,000-unit range annually after several volatile years.
Production slowed in 2023 as higher interest rates and tighter consumer financing weighed on demand before rebounding modestly in 2024 and leveling off through 2025. While stabilization is encouraging, the broader context highlights a much larger issue.
In the late 1990s, the industry produced more than 350,000 homes per year. Today’s output is less than one-third of that level despite a significantly larger population and a dramatically greater need for affordable housing.
The cost of new manufactured homes has also risen alongside broader construction inflation. Materials, transportation, and installation expenses have all increased. Yet even with these pressures, manufactured housing remains one of the most attainable paths to homeownership in the United States.
That affordability advantage continues to anchor the industry’s long-term demand.
Capital Markets Find New Equilibrium
Capital markets have also experienced a meaningful reset.
Between 2020 and early 2022, historically low interest rates and intense investor demand pushed pricing for manufactured housing communities to record levels. Cap rates compressed significantly as institutional capital entered the sector in search of durable yield and recession-resistant assets.
Between 2020 and early 2022, historically low interest rates and intense investor demand pushed pricing for manufactured housing communities to record levels, and cap rates compressed significantly.
Today, the market is beginning to find equilibrium. Cap rates have expanded modestly from historic lows, but the core investment thesis remains intact: manufactured housing communities continue to offer durable occupancy, predictable cash flow, and strong long-term fundamentals. In many cases,there are signs of values moving back in line with past seller expectations.
Operational Excellence Becomes Critical
Operational performance across manufactured housing communities remains among the strongest in residential real estate. Occupancy levels remain consistently high, and resident turnover tends to be relatively low compared with other housing sectors.
However, expectations for ownership and management are evolving.
As the industry gains greater attention from policymakers and residents alike, professional management and responsible operations continue to be important. Many manufactured housing communities across the country were developed prior to 1980, making infrastructure planning and capital investment critical for long-term sustainability.
Operators are increasingly focused on infrastructure improvements, strengthening community standards, implementing technology, and filling vacant sites with new homes. Infill remains one of the most effective strategies to both increase housing supply and enhance property value.
Global Forces Still Shape the Landscape
And as the industry gains greater attention from policymakers and residents, professional management and responsible operations remain important.
More importantly, energy spikes can fuel inflation, pushing Treasury yields higher and increasing borrowing costs across the housing sector, which could impact transaction activity and pricing expectations.
For manufactured housing professionals, the effects can be mixed. Higher interest rates may slow transaction activity while demand for more affordable housing options increases.
An Industry Becoming Essential
The long-term outlook for manufactured housing and the communities we operate remain highly compelling.
The United States continues to face a structural shortage of affordable housing, and few sectors are as well-positioned to address that challenge as manufactured housing. The combination of affordability, scalability, and operational resilience makes the asset class uniquely valuable within the broader housing ecosystem.
Manufactured housing communities are no longer viewed simply as an alternative housing option or a niche investment strategy. This shift is evident in the continued technological advancements in community operations.
Today, manufactured housing is emerging as an essential component of the nation’s housing infrastructure. As affordability remains one of the most pressing issues in the housing market, the role of manufactured housing will only continue to grow in importance in the years ahead.
Enon Winkler is an executive managing director with Sunstone Real Estate Advisors with more than 20 years of brokerage experience and more than $3 billion in successful sales. Winkler is a seasoned investor, entrepreneur, and business leader skilled in navigating transactions ranging from straightforward to highly complex.
Zoning Shift is a Positive Step Toward Housing Affordability
By DJ Pendleton and Rob Ripperda
Pendleton
The Texas Legislature has passed the state’s most significant expansion of manufactured housing rights in decades. Senate Bill 785, which TMHA supported, takes effect Sept. 1. It will require most Texas cities with zoning regulations to permit new HUD-code manufactured homes as a by-right use in at least one residential zoning district. An estimated one-third of Texas’ 1,200-plus cities need to update their zoning codes to comply with the new law.
As cities learn about the new legal mandate, some will begin to review and write new ordinances to change their zoning maps to comply with the law. Others might not become aware until the language of SB 785 is presented to them.
The passage of SB 785 was a major state-level legislative victory and finally fulfilled TMHA’s key legislative priority, one it has advocated for decades. But the state-level law was just the start; the outcome depends on how cities choose to implement the law.
Ripperda
What Manufactured Housing Professionals Can Do
Manufactured housing professionals in Texas have a unique opportunity before September 2026 to advocate for the allowance of new manufactured homes in areas of the city where they were previously banned. But it will be on each of us, within local communities, to seek out, engage, and advocate for more manufactured housing.
TMHA has asked its members to get active, or more active, in specific ways before the September change.
Firstly, know your cities. Identify municipalities that do not have a by-right zoning district.
Check for exemptions. Does the city lack any industrial or commercial zoning? Or are all residential lots in the city subject to pre-existing deed restrictions against MH? These carve-outs are narrow, but try to verify if they apply.
Reach out to staff. Introduce yourself as a trusted resource to planning staff and council members for all things manufactured housing and offer to work with them on SB 785 compliance.
Bring the map. Get a copy of the city’s zoning map and flag candidate districts that make sense to be zoned by-right under the new law.
Host an open house. Invite staff and council to tour a new HUD-code home on your lot or community. SB 785’s success was significantly helped by getting policymakers inside new manufactured homes.
Speak up at council and planning meetings. Short talking points at a hearing can influence a vote, but if they hear nothing from the industry, public officials may do only the minimum to meet the requirement.
Find friends. Employers, realtors, bankers, developers, and community leaders all understand the need for new attainable housing units. Ask them to join in requesting a wider expansion of property owner rights.
TMHA is interested in hearing back from members about their experiences in cities and towns across Texas. Report back and help inform other members and us on what is happening in an area where you work, live, or serve. L et us know what you’re hearing in your markets, and we’ll help support you. We’ll collect and distribute what is and what is not working to move the ball forward in Texas for manufactured housing.
The interior of a new Cavco home installed in an interurban Indiana neighborhood. Photos courtesy of Turnkey Communities.
What Is The State of the Manufactured Housing Industry? 2026 Updated Industry Facts and Figures
This post highlights some of the top-line trends in the manufactured housing industry, updated on an annual basis each spring. Manufactured homes continue to be a crucial solution to the affordable housing crisis, filling the gap in the middle housing market for many customer segments. Based on the numbers in our 2026 “State of the Industry” report on manufactured housing trends and statistics, the industry continues to show positive signs of growth.
Competitive Advantage
What is the cost for a new manufactured home?
The average cost for a new manufactured home in 2025 was $115,557, up nearly 5.33 percent from the previous year. For a multi-section home, the average cost was $156,170, and the price of a new single-section home averaged $95,074. For an existing manufactured home, the average sale price in 2025 was $73,326, up 2.31 percent from the previous year.
What is the cost per square foot for manufactured homes?
The average cost per square foot for a new manufactured home is $101.20. For a multi-section home, the price per square foot averages $110.26 and the price per square foot of a single-section home averages $95.17.
The new clubhouse at Cottage Grove, an all-ages community in Miami, Florida. Courtesy of RHP Properties.
Community Living
How many manufactured homes are there, and how many go to communities?
There are an estimated 4.3 million manufactured home sites in the United States. Approximately 30 percent of new manufactured homes are placed in a community. The U.S. has approximately 44,000 manufactured home communities. Approximately 18 percent of known communities in the U.S. were constructed prior to 1970. More than 60 percent were built during the 1970s and 1980s. About 5 percent of known communities have been built since 1991. Approximately 61 percent of known communities have an unknown, undocumented, or unclear construction date.
Communities by Size
About 29.7 percent of known communities are in a size category of 25 to 99 homesites. The next largest group is shared at 16.2 percent, with the communities that have one to 24 homesites and communities that have 100 to 299 homesites making up more than a third of the market. Three percent of the market is comprised of communities with between 300 and 499 homesites. About 1.1 percent has between 500 and 999 homesites. Only 0.2 percent of communities have 1,000 homesites or more. An estimated 33.5 percent of communities in the U.S. are listed as “unknown” size.
New manufactured homes at a land-lease community in Arizona.
How Many People Live in Manufactured and Mobile Homes?
MHInsider’s review of annual manufactured housing industry trends and statistics shows about 20 million people in the U.S. live in a manufactured or mobile home. Manufactured homes make up 9 percent of annual new home starts. About 70 percent of new manufactured homes are titled as real estate on private land.
Who Are the Residents, Where Are They?
Residents of manufactured home communities are split evenly between Boomers and those who are older, versus Generation X and those who are younger. Forty-seven percent of residents report being located in a suburban area, while 33.2 percent are in rural settings, and 19.2 percent are in urban settings.
Resident Satisfaction
How much do residents and owners of manufactured homes appreciate their purchasing decision?
A 2025 study reveals 78 percent of people are satisfied with their mobile or manufactured home, and 68.5 percent of those who live in a manufactured home in a land-lease community report they are satisfied with the decision. About 73 percent of respondents said they made the home and land-lease decision, intending it to be the place they stay. More than 70 percent said they intend to stay for more than six years, and the average resident stay is more than 10 years. About 86 percent of residents said they own or are buying their home. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they would recommend living in a manufactured home, 61.1 percent said they would recommend living in a manufactured home community, and 81.4 percent of buyers said they had a favorable impression of manufactured housing.
More than 65 percent of residents said their home value has increased or stayed the same since purchase.
Builders work on a new home at Cavco’s Durango facility in Phoenix.
Rent and Occupancy
The average site rent in a manufactured housing community in the U.S. in 2025 was $782, and the average for an all-ages community was $751 and $841 for 55+ communities. The occupancy rate in manufactured home communities in 2025 average 95 percent, 97 percent in 55+ communities, and 94 percent in all-ages communities. Site rent increased in 2025, averaging 6 percent, 6.1 percent in all-age communities, and 5.9 percent in 55+ communities. Occupancy increases in all communities averaged 0.3 percent, and 0.4 percent in all-ages communities, and 0.2 percent in 55+ communities.
The U.S. markets with the highest site rent are all in California, with all-ages rents highest on average in Orange County ($2,155), San Luis Obispo ($1,800), and Sonoma County ($1,681). Santa Cruz ($3,674), Sonoma ($2,000), and Ventura ($1,623) counties average the highest site rent for 55+ communities.
The markets with the lowest site rent for all-ages manufactured homes are in Lynchburg, Virginia ($232), Hendry-Okeechobee, Florida ($339), and Hidalgo, Texas ($379). The lowest average site rent for 55+ communities are in Lynchburg, Virginia ($246), Cincinnati ($312), and Madison, Wisconsin ($352).
Manufactured home communities with the highest average occupancy rates are all in California, all at or very near full capacity. The communities with the lowest average occupancy are in Bay County, Florida (66%), Genesee County, Michigan (69%), and Wichita, Kansas (77%) for all-ages communities. The lowest average occupancy rates in the U.S. for 55+ communities are in Gary, Indiana (47%), Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (67%), and Tyler, Texas (78%).
Markets with the greatest year-over-year increase in occupancy for all-ages communities were Gillette, Wyoming, Topeka, Kansas, and Indian River, Florida. Markets with the greatest year-over-year increase in occupancy for 55+ communities were in Des Moines, Iowa (6.9%), Allegan-Muskegon-Ottawa counties, Michigan (5.8%), and Brownsville, Texas (3.4%).
Manufactured Housing Production
How many manufactured homes were built during 2025?
The manufactured housing industry produced 102,738 housing units during 2025, a slight decrease from the year prior. The homes derived from 147 plants in 28 states. The economic impact of manufactured home production is felt throughout the economy. In 2025, the industry was responsible for 61,389 jobs paying out more than $3.3 billion in wages in factories, retailers, land preparation, transportation, and utility connections. The industry created about $12.7 billion in sales and contributed $6.3 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product.
Top Marketplaces with Home Listing Price Above Average
New Homes Listing Price Above Average
New single-section homes for sale at a manufactured home retail center in Tucson, Ariz.
What’s The State of the Manufactured Housing Industry?
MHlnsider updated its annual manufactured housing industry trends and statistics infographic, originally published in the May/June 2026 State of the Industry edition of MHInsider magazine. The following infographic includes data provided in summary earlier in the post and expands on information gathered from our surveys, including insight on rent and occupancy and average days on market.
2026 Manufactured Housing Industry Trends and Statistics Infographic
The two-story Eames Pavilion System, as debuted at Triennale Milano during Milan Design Week 2026.
Eames Vision for Factory-Made, Modular Living Hits the Market Following Debut in Milan
For decades, design enthusiasts have gazed at the glass-and-steel perfection of the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, California, and asked the same unanswerable question: Can I have one? The answer, for over 75 years, has been a polite but firm no. The house was a prototype, not a product. A demonstration, not a deliverable. Until now.
At Milan Design Week 2026, the Eames Office made the announcement that an entire generation of modernism lovers had quietly been waiting for. Unveiled at the Triennale Milano alongside an ambitious new exhibition, the Eames Pavilion System is the long-imagined transition of Charles and Ray Eames‘ prefabricated residential vision from archive to reality — a fully engineered, globally available modular construction system developed in partnership with Barcelona manufacturer Kettal.
It is not a replica. It is not a collector’s edition. It is, by the account of Eames Demetrios — grandson of Charles and Ray and current director of the Eames Office — something far more significant: the fulfillment of a design intent that was always meant to scale.
The popular imagination of Charles and Ray Eames tends to begin and end with furniture: the lounge chair and ottoman, the molded plastic shell chairs, the plywood work that defined a midcentury aesthetic still referenced in every design school on earth. But according to the curators and researchers behind this project, furniture was never the whole story.
Exhibition curator and author Eckart Maise spent nearly three years conducting an in-depth investigation of the Eames Office Archive, uncovering published and unpublished residential projects spanning the decade from 1945 to 1954. What emerged was, by his own account, a surprising revelation: architecture was not peripheral to Charles and Ray’s practice. It was central to it.
“Through rigorous, in-depth archival investigation, we uncovered a wealth of material — drawings, studies, and proposals — that had remained largely unseen,” Maise said. The research forms the backbone of both the new exhibition and an accompanying Phaidon publication, the first comprehensive sourcebook devoted solely to the Eameses’ residential architecture.
The source material for the Pavilion System draws on a constellation of projects beyond the famous Eames House (Case Study House No. 8), including Case Study House No. 9 (the Entenza House), two designs for director Billy Wilder, and a series of timber-frame experiments including the Shelter House and the De Pree House. Taken together, these projects reveal a consistent architectural grammar: a rational structural grid, maximum volume from a modest footprint, and a framework designed for flexibility rather than permanence.
From Prototype to Product
Translating that grammar into a contemporary product was not a simple matter of scaling up the blueprints. The Eames Office had long recognized the challenge. Since Ray Eames’ passing in 1988, the organization had been searching for a manufacturing partner capable of industrializing the prefab vision without sacrificing the spatial quality that made the original houses so remarkable.
The barriers were significant. Modernizing the prototypes required adapting proportions, joints, and materials to meet present-day regulatory standards. Components needed to be engineered for both outdoor and hybrid use, addressing complex technical requirements around sealing, UV resistance, and durability. And there was the fundamental tension of prefabrication itself: historically a local industry, constrained by geography and logistics, while the Eames legacy was emphatically global in its appeal.
Kettal, the family-owned Spanish manufacturer headquartered in Barcelona, emerged as the answer to all three challenges. Founded in 1966, the company has spent decades developing expertise in aluminum structures, modular architectural systems, and outdoor environments — precisely the technical vocabulary required to bring Eames-era prototypes into the twenty-first century.
“Going from prototype to product means standardization and industrialization… it is through this discipline that a system becomes more usable and the possibilities actually increase.”
— Kettal Creative Director Antonio Navarro
The result, after nearly three years of intensive research and development, is what Kettal Creative Director Antonio Navarro describes as a system that balances original intent with contemporary innovation — high-precision aluminum profiles, engineered decking, bioclimatic roofing, integrated lighting and HVAC, and digital configurators layered onto the Eameses’ foundational architectural logic.
“The goal is evolution, not stylistic reproduction,” Navarro said.
A Kit of Parts
The Eames Pavilion System is, at its heart, a disciplined modular kit. Repeatable structural modules combine with interchangeable roof types, facade infills, glazing options, textiles, and accessories to produce configurations ranging from a compact single-story pavilion of just 16 square meters up to a fully equipped two-story residence. Components are produced through factory-controlled processes at Kettal’s Barcelona facilities and finished on site — a balance between industrial precision and human craft that would have resonated deeply with the Eameses’ own manufacturing philosophy.
The structural palette speaks the language of the original houses: aluminum, glass, polycarbonate, and wood, assembled into single units, double modules, and multi-bay configurations. The system is designed explicitly for worldwide availability, and with repairability, longevity, and reconfigurability built into its core logic — a direct echo of Charles and Ray’s conviction that architecture should serve as a living backdrop for human experience rather than a fixed monument to a single moment in time.
The use cases are deliberately broad. Residential applications include studios, accessory dwelling units, vacation homes, garden pavilions, and poolside structures. The system also addresses hospitality and resort environments, workplace configurations, and retail or exhibition installations — an acknowledgment that the Eameses themselves never drew hard lines between domestic life and the spaces of culture and commerce.
The Exhibition
Running at the Triennale Milano from April 21 through May 10, 2026, the exhibition that accompanies the system’s launch is itself a substantial architectural event. Spread across 800 square meters, it places full-scale, walk-in Eames Pavilion installations alongside archival drawings, films, photographs, and newly commissioned scale models of eight Eames houses — several of which have never before been published or publicly exhibited.
The effect is to reframe the entirety of Charles and Ray’s practice, revealing architecture as a continuous thread running through their work in furniture, exhibitions, toys, photography, and film. The same systemic thinking that produced the lounge chair produced the Case Study Houses. The same belief in industrial production as a vehicle for human dignity informed both the molded plywood experiments and the steel-frame residential prototypes.
For those who cannot make it to Milan, Phaidon’s accompanying publication offers an extensive record of the research, running to 288 pages with approximately 1,000 images. Authored by Eckart Maise with contributions from Catherine Ince of the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, and forewords by Norman Foster and Eames Demetrios, it constitutes the first dedicated sourcebook on the Eameses’ residential architecture and is available from May 2026.
On Dec. 12, 2025, a grand opening was held in Parksley, Va., for the Innovation Cottages, an energy-efficient, off-site-built home project built in collaboration between Champion Homes and iUnit Communities.
Two newly unveiled cottages on Virginia’s eastern shore are offering a glimpse into how factory-built housing could play a larger role in meeting the nation’s growing demand for energy-efficient and attainable homes.
Champion Homes Inc., one of North America’s largest producers of factory-built housing, recently marked the opening of the Innovation Cottages, a pair of off-site-built homes designed to highlight the energy efficiency and design flexibility of modern manufactured and modular construction. The homes were developed in collaboration with iUnit Communities, a long-time partner focused on sustainable housing solutions.
Company leaders and local officials gathered in Parksley, Virginia in December for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and public open house, celebrating what they described as “a model for future residential development.”
“The Innovation Cottages are a marquee example of the incredible capacity of offsite-built homes to be an energy-efficient, leading-edge housing solution,” said Bryan Phelan, Champion Homes’ director of business development. “When forward-thinking collaborators put their heads together, amazing things happen.”
The project consists of two three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes, each built to different construction standards to demonstrate the range of offsite housing options available to communities and consumers.
One home is a 1,200-square-foot modular residence constructed to the International Residential Code at Champion’s manufacturing facility in Liverpool, Pennsylvania. The second is a 1,387-square-foot manufactured home built to the federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development code at the company’s Claysburg, Pennsylvania, plant. Both homes are ENERGY STAR certified and feature custom floorplans designed by Champion.
The cottages include architectural elements commonly associated with site-built housing, including front porches and 7/12 roof pitches. Developers said those details were intentionally included to ensure the homes blend seamlessly with the surrounding neighborhood.
Local officials said the project aligns with Parksley’s interest in innovative housing approaches.
“I can’t tell you how excited the Town of Parksley is to be a part of this incredible endeavor,” Mayor Frank Russell said during the ceremony.
The homes were funded in part through the Virginia Housing Innovation Grant Program, which supports new approaches to housing affordability and services, particularly for low- and moderate-income households across the state. Representatives from Virginia Housing, Accomack County, and Champion Homes attended the event.
iUnit Communities plans to list the cottages for sale in early 2026 and use the project as an educational tool to help prospective buyers better understand the long-term cost savings and environmental benefits of energy-efficient construction.
“The Innovation Cottages help us continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with offsite construction as we build energy-efficient housing,” said Brice Leconte, founder of iUnit Communities. “Champion has been a collaborator with iUnit in this journey for more than 10 years, and we appreciate their continued support of this joint mission.”
Advocates of factory-built housing say projects like the Innovation Cottages demonstrate how off-site construction can address multiple challenges facing the housing market, including affordability, labor shortages, and energy efficiency. Homes built in controlled factory environments can reduce material waste, improve construction consistency, and shorten build times, while advanced insulation systems and energy-efficient designs can lower monthly utility costs for homeowners.
Champion Homes operates 46 manufacturing facilities across the United States and western Canada and employs more than 9,000 people. Its portfolio includes manufactured and modular homes, accessory dwelling units, park models, and modular buildings serving single-family, multifamily, and hospitality markets. Beyond home production, the company also provides installation services, operates a factory-direct retail network with 82 locations nationwide, and runs Star Fleet Trucking, which transports manufactured housing and other freight across the country.
iUnit Communities focuses on developing sustainable neighborhoods that combine technology and environmentally conscious building practices, encouraging residents to make informed choices about energy use and daily living. Virginia Housing is a public-private partnership that supports housing affordability initiatives statewide through financing programs, grants, and partnerships with local governments and developers.
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