Gary Fleisher, Modular Construction Industry Observer and Information Gatherer

The US Modular Home Industry Lags Far Behind Other Countries

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Of the estimated 762,000 new homes that were sold in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of modular, or six-sided volumetric modules used to produce homes was minuscule.

Though there isn’t a real number of how many homes were built with prefabricated walls and roof trusses, there are numbers for the manufactured and modular side of the construction industry.

The cumulative shipments of manufactured or HUD homes for 2021 totaled 105,775 homes compared with 94,401 homes in 2020, a net increase of 12.0 percent.

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The real disappointing number is for modular homes built every year in the United States which has been stagnant at approximately 3% a year or just north of 22,000 for 2021.

To better understand the number of modular home production, one only has to look at what the average modular factory can produce a year. A good number today for the average modular factory is 10-12 modules a week which equals 5-6 homes a week.

Using those numbers as a guideline, it calculates to the US having 78 modular factories producing IRC homes. That’s probably about right.

Now comes the rude awakening for the US modular market. According to surveys done in Europe and the Asian markets, we are a dismal third.

Europe built 428,000 modular and prefabricated homes in 2021 while the Asian market produced another 300,000. In both of these regions, the governments of the countries are encouraging Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) with help in financing, regulations, and education.

The offsite and modular housing industry is aware of these numbers and has tried to open new factories at a pace that tries to have a real impact in on the percentage of houses supplied by our industry but no matter what we try, our numbers appear to remain small compared to the tract home builders that continue to put up houses at a pace unmatched by anyone.

Is there an answer to why our industry isn’t doing better? Maybe the answers will be found at the Building Systems Council’s Summit this month in Atlanta or at the Modular Home Builder’s Association Annual Meeting in Harrisburg, PA in October.

Both will have the leaders of the IRC modular home industry attending and speaking about our industry. Be sure to attend at least one of them to see and hear what they are doing to market and promote modular housing to the end consumer, the builder, the consumer, and government officials.

Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at gary.fleisher@imediagroup.com

To learn more about the Offsite Construction Industry, sign up for your free monthly issue of Offsite Builder, the Construction Magazine for Builders and Developers

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