Manufactured Homes Help Close The Housing Affordability Gap

A new-construction home with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and a built-in community, all for the (comparatively) low six figures?

This isn’t grandma’s manufactured home.

As sky-high real estate prices and an intimidating interest rate environment put traditional homeownership out of reach for many buyers, more consumers are turning to manufactured housing. In response, many credit unions are increasingly focusing on manufactured home loans to meet evolving member needs.

“This is the epitome of what we do as credit unions,” says Rob Overton, SVP of lending at Rogue Credit Union ($3.8B, Medford, OR), which has been in the manufactured home space since the early 2000s. “We try to find good solutions to help our members on their journey to financial wellbeing.”

Rogue dabbled in manufactured housing lending for years, but demand has skyrocketed. According to Overton, Rogue wrote four such loans in 2017. That jumped to 130 in 2025.

Some of that increased demand is tied to pressures in the broader real estate market, but Overton and other credit union lenders also cite the dramatically improved quality of such homes, especially in comparison to the stereotypical manufactured home.

“These homes are coming with granite countertops, quartz, all-electric, designed for ceiling fans, a fireplace — all those amenities you’d see in a traditional home are now being offered in a manufactured home,” explains Robyn Mannone, chief consumer lending officer at APG Federal Credit Union ($2.6B, Edgewood, MD).

Quality, Cost, And Community

Although manufactured homes are often positioned as a more affordable alternative to traditional housing, they aren’t insulated from broader market forces, says John Walters, general manager of manufactured home lending at Credit Human Federal Credit Union ($4.4B, San Antonio, TX). Better quality amenities plus rising costs for lumber and other construction materials all have also contributed to rising prices.

They’re up by how much? Think the regular real estate market is rough? Wait until you see how much manufactured home prices have risen by comparison. Dig into the data in “The Affordable Housing Crisis Goes Beyond Single-Family Homes.”

Still, these properties can be appealing to borrowers who want to downsize from larger homes and are choosing manufactured housing based on location and features rather than price alone. APGFCU and Rogue both work with manufactured park owners that cater to communities for residents age 55 and older.

Credit Human is the industry’s largest player in this space, and those communities have been a natural fit for the membership, which tends to skew slightly older, according to Walters.

“A lot of people have equity in their homes,” the GM says. “They’re either paying cash or putting a good down payment down on manufactured housing, so they reduce their monthly payments along with reducing their footprint.”

At Eagle Community Credit Union ($369.7M, Foothill Ranch, CA), California real estate prices have helped make these properties especially appealing.

“Residents are determining that manufactured homes are a viable alternative to purchasing traditional homes,” says Robert Thompson, chief lending officer. “We are seeing both first-time buyers and retirees seeing manufactured homes as an excellent option to homeownership.”

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has to increase homeownership by at least 30,000 units by 2030 to address a housing shortage. That’s expected to be a boon for Rogue, where demand increased following wildfires that destroyed homes throughout its market.

“A lot of things are coming together that are going to see this product become a more accepted middle-of-the-road bridge, not a niche,” Overton says, noting that this could be a first step for some when they leave apartment life for a single-family unit. “It’ll be like a starter home, but much more luxurious and for the same type of money.”

Terms And Conditions Vary

There’s no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to pricing and underwriting manufactured home loans. At APGFCU, the loans fall under consumer lending and follows similar guidelines around debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratios. The organization requires money down for new and used properties and maxes out loan length at 20 years. It also offers home improvement loans, which helps owners gussy up the homes before they go back on the market.

“The parks want the property to be quality so they can turn them and they get another person in there,” Mannone says.

Credit Human uses risk-based pricing and because its manufactured home loans don’t require PMI, they carry a slightly higher interest rate than a traditional mortgage. Even with that higher rate, however, these homes often present a lower upfront cost of entry and fewer barriers to a down payment when compared to site-built homes.

But affordability alone doesn’t dictate how aggressively Credit Human pursues the space.

“Some of our competitors require billions of dollars a year in originations; we’re not that,” Walters says. “We can pick and choose where our production comes from and how much we need. The demand is out there; it’s just a matter of how much we want to be a player in it.”

Rather than marketing directly to consumers, Credit Human primarily works as an indirect lender, working directly with manufactured housing dealers and park owners. It has also created loan advisor roles that allow the credit union to have conversations with members and dealers while staying in compliance.

At Rogue, loans of up to $300,000 are available for a maximum term of 25 years. Overton says although leadership might discuss longer terms, a quarter-century seems to be the sweet spot.

“It’s rare that we get much pushback there because the payment is still very manageable,” he notes.

Like Credit Human, Rogue employs risk-based pricing for manufactured housing loans and set rates that are competitive with others in the market. According to Overton, credit quality has been strong, with little difference between applicants for manufactured and site-built homes.

“It used to be stereotyped that [manufactured home] people were low income, maybe had some credit problems,” he says. “That’s all gone by the wayside. Credit quality is equal across the board. This is an asset class that scares a lot of lenders, and it really shouldn’t.”

Overton says Rogue hasn’t charged-off any loans in this space in the past 24 months and delinquencies are in the single digits.

Location, Location, Location

The owners of manufactured home parks make their money by hosting those properties and generally charge tenants rent for that land. But lot rent has risen dramatically in some states, putting the squeeze on some manufactured homeowners or would-be borrowers.

Credit Human takes lot rent into consideration in the underwriting and approval process, weighing that against the applicant’s broader debt-to-income ratio. In some cases, that’s leading to denials.

“The biggest challenge people still have is affordability,” Walters says. “They’re more affordable, but they’re not free.”

According to Mannone at APGFCU, one key difference between manufactured homes and traditional mortgages is that the credit union runs manufactured home loans as title transactions rather than deeds. In that case, lot rent basically takes the place of annual property taxes, she says.

The parks APGFCU partners with also must approve the borrower based on their own stipulations. That process happens simultaneously with loan approval.

Lessons Learned

Similar to how lenders manage dealer relationships with indirect auto lending, sources say partnerships with home park owners and real estate agents are crucial to success in this space.

“It lends itself to being specialized,” says Walters, noting that Credit Human has three regional offices across the country, and approximately 20% of its manufactured housing team has been working in that space for more than two decades. “It helps our portfolio because we understand the business.”

Eagle Community’s Thompson suggests approaching manufactured home loans similar to old-fashioned mortgage lending.

“Just like with traditional mortgages, every single deal is unique,” he says. “Every borrower, every mobile home park, every park approval process is different. This is not a cookie-cutter operation, and you need the right people and processes in place to be successful.”

The biggest lesson from many lenders in this space might simply be not to overlook the opportunity.

“There’s a whole gamut of folks who we serve through this product,” Mannone says. “We don’t try to say it’s for first-time buyers or it’s a lower-income borrower. We present it to our community and our realtor partnerships as a homebuying option.”