A Review of Barriers to Great Use of Manufactured Housing for Entry-Level Homeownership: Joint Center for Housing Studies (2024)

Key insights:

Manufactured housing holds promise as an affordable form of housing that could expand homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income households.

This report, from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, reviews the available literature to assess the principal barriers to greater adoption of manufactured housing, including:

• lingering negative perceptions of the quality of the homes despite notable improvements in quality over time;
• zoning and other land use regulations that limit the ability to site these homes in many communities;
• market conditions that erode the cost advantage of manufactured homes; the unique nature of the supply chain for these homes that makes it difficult for consumers to obtain homes in many urban areas;
• and limits on access to affordable financing.

This report was authored by Christoper Herbert, Alexander Hermann, Daniel McCue & Chadwick Reed.