Thank you for the great turnout at our 2005 Manufactured Housing Industry Summit in Tacoma and Portland.  The response was overwhelmingly positive and the participation was terrific.  Next year we plan to launch a new, revised format that will guarantee even a greater value to all attendees.
 
At the Summit we quoted approximate manufactured housing shipment numbers for 2004, estimating 130,700 new homes shipped, a 60 year low.  Thanks to Marty Lavin at Marty’s News and Notes in Burlington, Vermont, here are the actual statistics, hot off the email press:
 
“My HUD Code Shipments Contest for 2004 has mercifully been put to bed. The final number was 130,802as reported by MHI.  The final for 2003 was 130,937. Year 2004 benefited from several thousand FEMA ordered homes to replace the battering of four hurricanes hitting the Southeast, or the final ’04 count would have been in the 124,000 homes range.”
 
The good news is everyone at our Summit agreed that there is a renewed and enthusiastic emphasis on new manufactured homes being sold into land-lease communities.  Manufacturers support retailers interested in land-lease home sales and certainly have the production capacity available to build those orders.  Our comparisons of site-built housing vs. manufactured home living in five key Pacific Northwest cities proved without a doubt that a new manufactured home in a quality land-lease community offers homebuyers the most affordable, energy efficient housing choice available.  New quasi-governmental loan programs and aggressive chattel loan rates are now available.  Look for more partnerships between retailers and community owners being established in 2005 with the support of the manufacturers and lenders. 
 
Again, if you attended our 2005 Summit, thank you!  If you were unable to attend we will send you an invitation to our 2006 Summit later this year.

Greg Harmon - President
Commonwealth Real Estate Services
E-mail: greg@cwres.com
Telephone 503.244.2300 Ext. 101