Manufactured Homes Are a Crucial Source of Lower-Cost Housing, but Financing Is a Major Hurdle

Resources about Pew’s work on manufactured housing

The Pew Charitable Trusts

With few new starter or lower-cost homes being built in the U.S., communities throughout the nation could leverage manufactured homes (modern mobile homes) to help increase the housing supply. However, a lack of financing for these homes continues to present a significant barrier for prospective manufactured home buyers and has stymied the growth of this key housing source.

Historically, lenders and government financing agencies have treated manufactured homes differently from site-built housing in financial and legal terms, which has diminished manufactured housing’s potential to meet the needs of prospective homebuyers. But in recent years, federal, state, and local leaders have taken steps to bring this critical type of housing into the financial and regulatory mainstream.

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ housing policy initiative provides data and analysis to help policymakers better understand what challenges manufactured housing buyers and lenders face, and how to boost people’s access to safe and affordable financing for these homes. 

Speeches & Testimony

Expanded Loan Options Needed for Manufactured Home Buyers

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Speeches & Testimony

On Aug. 12, 2024, The Pew Charitable Trusts sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s proposed 2025-27 plans related to the “Duty to Serve” rule, which requires them to provide a viable secondary loan market for very low-, low-, and moderate-income Americans, with an emphasis on manufactured and rural housing as well as affordable housing preservation.

Article

Increasing Access to Financing for Manufactured Homes

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Article

The White House; the Federal Housing Administration (FHA); and Ginnie Mae, the government-owned guarantor of federally insured home loans, announced on Feb. 29 important changes to the Title I lending program to increase access to safe, affordable loans for the purchase of manufactured homes.

Article

Enhancing Credit Access for Manufactured Home Buyers

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Article

Personal property loans—which finance the purchase of a manufactured home but not the land beneath it—are used by more than 4 in 10 manufactured home buyers who take out a loan. These homes are constructed in a factory in one or more sections and driven to land for final installation.

Article

Expand Lower-Cost Housing With Manufactured Homes

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Article

Most renters in the United States say they would like to own their own homes, but with a limited supply of entry-level or affordable options available, many find it difficult to buy.

OUR WORK

Video

Why Do Millions of U.S. Homebuyers Use Risky Financing Options?

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Video

Homes come in all shapes and sizes—and so do the loans needed to buy them. For many prospective buyers, obtaining a traditional, safe 15- or 30-year mortgage is a key step to achieving financial security and their dream of homeownership. But for borrowers looking to buy a home valued under $150,000, financing can be hard to come by, and the available options are often risky—even for those with good credit.

An illustration of a couple holding hands walking away from an outline of houses behind them
An illustration of a couple holding hands walking away from an outline of houses behind them
Podcast

Pathways to Homeownership: Housing in America

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Podcast

In this episode, Alex Horowitz and Tara Roche, directors of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ housing policy initiative, join us to discuss some of the challenges—and how to overcome them—for those pursuing homeownership.