On 8.24.2023 MHProNews publicly challenged manufactured housing trade media to investigate and report on certain issues that have negatively impacted manufactured housing in 2022 and 2023. Information released by UMH Properties may have been technically fine, but they nevertheless shed light on issues that other publicly traded firms, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), and MHI connected state associations have passed on to industry members without questioning potentially problematic, actionable if not illegal activities. Given litigation launched against Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS) in 2022, and the multi-year U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Cavco Industries (CVCO)– among other governmental legal actions in MHVille – there are recent examples of issues that come to mind when pondering why manufactured housing oddly took a year over year (YoY) downturn in the last quarter of 2022 and continuing into 2023 during a widely acknowledged affordable housing crisis. Given that Cavco Industries President and CEO William “Bill” Boor has told Congress that the industry is at a “crossroads” due to regulatory and other headwinds, yet there appears to be disconnects between what Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) linked leaders are saying to public officials vs. what they are saying to shareholders, investors, and others.

 

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With that brief background, Part I of this article is the Texas Real Estate Research Center (TRERC) monthly report issued in conjunction with the Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA).

Part II is additional information on related issues with more MHProNews analysis and commentary.

Part III is the Daily Business News on MHProNews macro- and manufactured housing connected market reports, which include left (CNN) right (Newsmax) headline news items. In seconds, a person can grasp the potentially ‘market moving’ items across the left-right spectrum. Our regular readers know more and save time doing so.

 

Part I

Texas housing manufacturers replenish payrolls amid positive production projections

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Texas Real Estate Research Center) – The production of manufactured homes in Texas increased for the fourth consecutive month in July, according to the latest Texas Manufactured Housing Survey (TMHS), and additional acceleration is expected through year end.

Housing manufacturers responded by increasing hiring activity, pushing the TMHS employee index to an annual high.

“These payroll expansions closely track the current industry outlook,” said Wes Miller, senior research associate at the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University (TRERC). “Business activity has rebounded despite ongoing interest rate increases that shocked demand last year. In addition to new hiring, average employee workweeks have picked up over the last few months.”

The cost environment remained relatively tame in July, with the TMHS suggesting no change in labor costs as well as declines in prices of raw materials. Price pressures, however, are expected to build as we enter the fall.

“After a significant decline since its December 2021 peak, the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index has increased the past two months,” said Dr. Harold Hunt, TRERC research economist. “There is nothing to panic about yet since the index is below its historical average, but it does indicate that supply-chain problems are showing signs of escalating again.”

Housing manufacturers experienced a similar uptick in supply chain disruptions, and they expect these challenges to persist for at least the next six months. Upstream bottlenecks could elevate input costs and increase backlogs. The TMHS backlog index ended a 21-month decline in March and climbed upward through July, impacting retailers and consumers.

“Retailers sold more homes than they received during the first half of the year,” said Rob Ripperda, vice president of operations for the Texas Manufactured Housing Association, “and that trend should extend into July as manufacturing plants typically close for a week to celebrate Independence Day. Last year there wasn’t a single month when retail sales beat shipments. Solid consumer demand for affordable housing continues to drive new orders and has brought manufacturing production rates back to where they were during the last calendar quarter of 2022.”

TMHS respondents plan on accelerating production over the next six months but anticipate falling further behind new orders.

All TMHA members with manufacturing facilities in the state were invited to participate in the sentiment survey, and the survey panel represents 89 percent of HUD-code homes produced in Texas.

Funded by Texas real estate licensee fees, TRERC was created by the state legislature to meet the needs of many audiences, including the real estate industry, instructors, researchers, and the public.

—30—

 

Part II Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary in Brief

Since others in what passes for the balance of manufactured housing trade news and MHVille bloggers either don’t understand or don’t properly report/analyze many of the trends and occurrences in manufactured housing, MHProNews issued a public challenge for them to report on what appears to be a major issue that sheds light on the current manufactured housing industry downturn. While there are several factors, one of them has not been given much attention, save previously by MHProNews. See the report linked below and look carefully at the remarks from TRERC above.

 

Q2 2023 UMH Properties Inc – ‘National Growth Opportunities via Increased Rents and Vacant Land’ – Inventory and Zoning Battles ~ $2 Bil Market Cap, More Facts and Analysis; plus MHMarkets Update

 

Accepting the UMH data as presented, we stated in the above that MHProNews would give rival trade media at least a week to figure out what UMH may have inadvertently revealed in their remarks above. Genuine reporters with an eye for news should see the problem. After all, the inherently affordable manufactured housing industry is in a troubling and steep downturn in 2023, while far more costly conventional housing has been recovering in recent months. But fluffers and apparently thinly veiled and de facto rewarded publicists in MHVille that carry water for MHI and their leading brands may not notice (or care to report).

Thus, this test announced in the report linked above and here that is being conducted by MHProNews will reveal much of what has gone wrong in manufactured housing, including some potential clues about the current manufactured housing downturn.  Because part of the problem that Boor described as a “crossroads” issues have arguable been fueled by a lack of understanding of why manufactured housing is in a downturn after Congress passed favorable laws in 2000 and 2008. Having highlighted several possible topics raised by UMH, we’ve given our trade rivals in trade media an opportunity to demonstrate their journalistic chops, or their lack thereof.

 

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More ECN Capital-Skyline Champion Deal with New Triad President Lance Hull Remarks – is Claytonization of Largest Independent Manufactured Home Lender Triad Financial Services Underway?

Manufactured Housing Production-Shipment Data for All 50 States – Compare and Contrast MHI’s and MHARR’s Remarks About the Most Recent National Manufactured Home Data; plus MHStocks Update

Cavco Industries – Quarterly Earnings for CVCO to 1st Half of 2023 – Compare what William ‘Bill’ Boor told Investors to What Boor told Congress – ‘Months’ B4 MHC Homes; plus MHVille Market Update

Sun Communities, Inc. (SUI) Reports 2023 Second Quarter and Year-to-Date Results Through June 30, 2023, What CEO Gary Shiffman Did, Didn’t Say; plus MHVille Stocks, REITs Updates

‘Like No Place Else!’ in MHVille – Research-Reports-Analysis Reveal and Yield Understanding for News and Trends Keeping Manufactured Home Production at Historically Low Levels

 

One more hint to our boastful but apparently lacking in key details publishing rivals. TRERC has provided a piece of the puzzle.

MHProNews has at various times has had to correct TRERC, but this time, they have yielded something that may be potentially groundbreaking to those who pay attention to the details.

 

TMHA VP Rob Ripperda’s Tell Damages Manufactured Housing Institute Claim, While Dr. Harold Hunt Remarks Undercut Cavco’s Bill Boor Statements on Manufactured Housing? Plus MHVille Markets Update

Stay tuned for that test result. MHI itself is naturally invited to weigh in. MHProNews is gathering inputs from other industry members. ##

 

Part III. Daily Business News on MHProNews Markets and Headline News Segment

 

Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business – from the evening of 8.25.2023

• 1% down payment program
• For buyers facing affordability challenges getting into a home of their own, Zillow Home Loans is rolling out this new option
• The Grand Tetons rise above the clouds in Grand Teton National Park where financial leaders from around the world are gathering for the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, outside Jackson, Wyoming, U.S., August 25, 2022.
• How should central banks coordinate when their economies are headed in opposite directions?
• European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, speaks during a news conference at the European Union office in San Francisco, California, on June 22, 2023.
• Large US tech companies face new EU rules
• Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, June 22, 2023. Powell yesterday said policymakers expect interest rates will need to move higher to reduce US growth and contain price pressures, even though they held rates steady at their meeting last week. Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg
• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hints at more bad news for borrowers
• UAW members approve possible strikes at GM, Ford and Stellantis
• CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 09: Grocery items are offered for sale at a supermarket on August 09, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Despite inflation starting to settle, food inflation continues to climb in the double digits in many counties.
• Consumers are growing slightly more cautious about the economy
• NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 10: People walk past a Wells Fargo branch on January 10, 2023 in New York City. Wells Fargo agreed the bank would pay $3.7 billion to settle with a U.S. consumer finance watchdog, for years of mistakenly freezing accounts, wrongly repossessing cars and illegally charging customers fees.
• Wells Fargo overcharged nearly 11,000 investment accounts with advisory fees, SEC alleges
• Shein partners with Forever 21 in fast-fashion deal that will expand reach of both companies
• The Hawaiian Electric logo is displayed outside the electric power utility company’s office in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires in Kahului, Hawaii on August 15, 2023. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Hawaiian Electric, the state’s biggest power firm, claiming the company should have shut off its power lines to lower the risk of fire.
• Maui government files lawsuit, accuses Hawaiian electric company of causing Lahaina wildfires
• NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 25: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech is seen on a television screen as traders work on the New York Stock Exchange floor during morning trading on August 25, 2023 in New York City. Stocks opened higher as Wall Street prepared for Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium
• LIVE UPDATES
• Key takeaways from Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech
• What happens in Jackson Hole doesn’t stay in Jackson Hole
• Frozen vegetables sold at Food Lion and Kroger are being recalled
• Jackson Hole: Fed policy collides with reality in the most unequal county in America
• A mariner accused of raping college student loses ability to work at sea, but escapes criminal charges
• Heineken sells Russian business for $1 as it completes exit
• IMF chief says Africa must do these three things to increase trade
• Subway has sold itself to a private equity firm
• Why some are calling Germany ‘the sick man of Europe’ once again
• The future of CNN is coming into view as the network regains its footing following a rocky period
• Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran among six countries invited to join BRICS group
• The US needs a stable Chinese economy. Will Biden’s commerce secretary offer help?
• North Carolina Hooters sued for racial discrimination against employees
• Gap reports mixed second quarter and decline in sales across all brands

 

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