FORT WORTH (Fort Worth Business Press) – While all other sectors of residential real estate have suffered over the past few months, the manufactured housing market has thrived.
The sector has a trend of performing better in a down market, according to Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.
Some 30 percent of the households in Texas cannot afford a home over $70,000, which is a plus for the manufactured home business, says Dr. Jim Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
The average price for a manufactured home is $46,000, compared with $162,300 for a site-built house, excluding land, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute.
“Manufactured homes are set to do well,” Gaines says.
Texas, Florida and North Carolina lead the market in volume of manufactured home communities, 60 percent of which are in southern states.
According to a September report released by JLT & Associates, a market research company specializing in the manufactured housing industry, Texas has 170 such communities. Twenty-seven of those are in Tarrant County.
