Manufactured Homes: Prices vs Houses in the Same ZIP
In closings Resideline tracked from November 2025 through October 2026, manufactured homes sold for 62.5% of the house price per square foot in the typical ZIP code. Homes sold with land brought 43% more per square foot than leased lot homes in the same ZIP.
A manufactured home is a factory built home made to the federal HUD Code, which applies to homes built on or after June 15, 1976. In ZIP codes where both kinds of home sell, a manufactured home typically brings 62.5% of what a site built house gets per square foot. That comes from 3,272 ZIP codes with at least 10 sales of each type among closings Resideline tracked from November 1, 2025 to October 31, 2026. Taking each ZIP code's median and then the middle ZIP code, manufactured homes sold for $127 per square foot and detached houses for $202. Total prices in the typical ZIP code were $167,500 against $355,000, and manufactured homes were the cheaper of the two per square foot in 96% of those ZIP codes.
The 62.5% mixes homes sold with their land and homes on rented lots, while every house price includes land. Where we could tell the land arrangement, homes sold with their land brought 43% more per square foot than homes on rented lots in the same ZIP code, and 63% more in total price. Those figures are for the typical ZIP code among 131 with at least 5 sales of each kind, and owned land homes had the higher median price in 85.5% of them.
Across all 127,870 manufactured home sales we tracked, the median sale price was $165,000 and the median size was 1,308 square feet. Our coverage is uneven by state, so these figures and the tables below are medians of the sales we tracked, not a national price. Newer homes and bigger homes sold for more, and the pre-1976 homes that federal rules call mobile homes had the lowest median price of any build era.
Manufactured homes vs houses in the same ZIP code
Comparing inside one ZIP code removes differences between regions and cities, though homes in the same ZIP can still differ in location. The house side counts detached single family homes only, without condos or townhomes. Prices and ratios in the table are medians across ZIP codes, so they describe the typical ZIP code in each group. Each share row is the median of each ZIP code's own ratio, so it will not equal what you get by dividing the two rows above it.
| All manufactured | Sold with owned land | On a leased lot | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZIP codes compared | 3,272 | 219 | 960 |
| Manufactured, median $ per sq ft | $127 | $153 | $104 |
| House, median $ per sq ft | $202 | $226 | $284 |
| Manufactured as a share of house, per sq ft | 62.5% | 65.9% | 33.6% |
| Manufactured, median price | $167,500 | $181,000 | $118,025 |
| House, median price | $355,000 | $404,500 | $490,000 |
| Manufactured as a share of house, total price | 46.9% | 45.4% | 22.8% |
| ZIP codes where manufactured is cheaper per sq ft | 96% | 94.1% | 99.3% |
The owned land and leased lot columns cover different ZIP codes, so compare each with its own houses, not with each other. The owned land column covers 219 ZIP codes with at least 5 owned land sales and 10 house sales; the leased lot column covers 960 ZIP codes with at least 10 leased lot sales and 10 house sales.
The discount varies by place: in the middle half of ZIP codes, manufactured homes sold for 42.9% to 77.5% of the house price per square foot.
Houses in the 960 leased lot ZIP codes are expensive, a typical $490,000, and a home on a rented lot carries none of that land value.
Site built sales make poor comps for a manufactured home. Use manufactured sales with the same land arrangement and adjust as you would for any property, following the method in how to comp a house.
Prices by build year
The federal HUD Code applies to homes built on or after June 15, 1976. We grouped homes built in 1975 or earlier as pre-code and left out the 1,899 sales of homes built in 1976, because the year alone cannot place them before or after that date. Another 2,571 sales had no usable build year and are not in the table either.
| Year built | Sales | Median price | Median size (sq ft) | Median $ per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 or earlier | 16,312 | $100,000 | 980 | $104 |
| 1977 to 1994 | 42,806 | $144,230 | 1,232 | $120 |
| 1995 to 2009 | 42,727 | $189,900 | 1,456 | $129 |
| 2010 or later | 21,555 | $220,000 | 1,424 | $153 |
Homes built since 2010 were slightly smaller than the 1995 to 2009 group and still sold for more per square foot.
These medians come from one year of sales, and age is mixed in with location, land arrangement and condition, so the steps between eras do not measure what aging costs a home.
Prices by size
| Size | Sales | Median price | Median size (sq ft) | Median $ per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,000 sq ft | 30,389 | $90,000 | 840 | $118 |
| 1,000 to 1,499 sq ft | 54,848 | $160,000 | 1,249 | $129 |
| 1,500 sq ft or more | 42,633 | $235,000 | 1,768 | $129 |
Homes under 1,000 square feet brought less per square foot than larger ones; above that, price rose about in step with size.
Owned land vs a leased lot
| Land arrangement | Sales | Median price | Median size (sq ft) | Median $ per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sold with owned land | 4,535 | $175,000 | 1,223 | $151 |
| On a leased lot | 33,965 | $115,900 | 1,188 | $100 |
These are medians across all the classified sales we tracked, so they differ a little from the typical ZIP code figures in the same ZIP table. The two groups were close in size, so most of the price gap shows up per square foot. In the typical ZIP code among 131 with at least 5 sales of each kind, the median price for owned land homes was about 63% higher than for leased lot homes in the same ZIP code, and about 43% higher per square foot. Owned land homes had the higher median price in 85.5% of those ZIP codes.
We could identify the land arrangement for only 30.1% of sales, using listing text, park names, lot numbers and, in parts of Florida, tax rolls. Those methods find homes in land lease communities far more easily than homes on private land: 88% of the sales we classified were on leased lots (33,965 of 38,500), while the Census Bureau counted 23% of new manufactured homes placed in 2024 going into land lease communities. The owned land figures rest on 4,535 sales, and the sales we could classify may not represent the rest.
A leased lot lowers the purchase price, and the owner pays lot rent every month. A June 2024 report on New Jersey's communities from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that the affordability of owning a home in one is "heavily contingent on lot rents."
What counts as a manufactured home
- •A manufactured home is built in a factory to the federal HUD Code, which covers homes built on or after June 15, 1976.
- •A mobile home, in federal terms, is a factory built home from before that date.
- •A modular home is built to state and local building codes and is set on a permanent foundation (24 CFR 3282.12).
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (Public Law 119-101), enacted July 11, 2026, changes part of that definition. Section 301 removes the requirement that a manufactured home be built on a permanent chassis, but only once HUD writes the new standards, so the change is not in effect yet. Separately, a HUD Code update in force since September 15, 2025 lets a single manufactured home contain one to four dwelling units.
What a new manufactured home costs
According to the Census Bureau, the average new manufactured home sold for $127,200 in 2025, with single section homes at $85,600 and double section homes at $157,100. Those averages include dealer setup but not land, and they count intended sale prices for homes not yet sold, according to the Census Bureau's survey definitions. They do not compare directly with the resale prices in this article, which include land whenever it was sold with the home.
In Census Bureau figures, the average new manufactured home cost $84.45 per square foot in 2024, about half the $168.86 average for the structure alone of a new site built home. Factories shipped 102,738 new manufactured homes in 2025 and 103,314 in 2024, and about 70,700 were placed for residential use in 2025.
How many there are, and where
The Census Bureau's American Community Survey counts manufactured homes of every age under the label "mobile home." By that count, mobile homes made up 5.3% of US housing units in 2025, including vacant units. That year the share was highest in New Mexico (15.0%), Mississippi (14.2%), West Virginia (13.7%) and South Carolina (13.1%). Florida had the most units, about 800,000, followed by Texas with about 757,000 and North Carolina with about 523,000.
Census shipment data for 2025 show Texas receiving 17,458 homes, 17% of the total, followed by Florida (6,804), North Carolina (6,269), Alabama (5,314) and South Carolina (5,232). Placements are not published by state, so shipments are the closest state level figure.
Financing: chattel loans and mortgages
Of new manufactured homes placed in 2024, 78% were titled as personal property and 18% as real estate, according to the Census Bureau. A loan on a home titled as personal property is a chattel loan.
A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report published in 2021, using 2019 loan data, found that about 42% of manufactured home purchase loans were chattel loans. Their median interest rate in 2019 was 8.6%, against 4.9% for manufactured home mortgages and 4.1% for site built home mortgages. Only 27% of manufactured home loan applications in 2019 ended in a funded loan, compared with 74% for site built homes.
The CFPB's 42% is lower than the Census Bureau's 78% because the two describe different groups. The Census figure shows how new homes placed in 2024 were titled, including homes bought with cash, while the CFPB counted 2019 purchase loans on new and used homes as reported by lenders. The CFPB itself notes that its estimate is lower than other sources and that new homes appear far more likely than used homes to be financed with chattel loans.
Fannie Mae's MH Advantage, Freddie Mac's CHOICEHome and VA loans all require the home to be titled as real property on a permanent foundation. FHA's Title I limits as of March 2024 were $105,532 for a single section home, $193,719 for a multi section home and $43,377 for a lot; HUD adjusts them, so check current figures.
Do manufactured homes appreciate?
FHFA builds its manufactured home price index from conventional mortgages on real property manufactured homes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac acquired. A home sold as real property includes its land, so chattel sales, homes on leased lots and cash purchases are not in the index. From the first quarter of 2000 through the second quarter of 2026, in a developmental series that FHFA updates quarterly and may revise, the index rose 226%, against 225% for FHFA's standard US purchase only index.
Urban Institute researchers who studied the index wrote in November 2024 that, because manufactured homes are concentrated in states with faster price growth, their analysis "possibly overstates" how much the homes have appreciated, and that homes on leased land have "likely not performed nearly as well." Data they cite show land prices up 261% from 2012 to 2023, against 49% for structures.
We did not measure appreciation, because one year of sales shows price levels and not price changes. For appreciation by city, see our real home appreciation study.
Insurance
A July 2025 consumer guide from Wisconsin's insurance regulator says most manufactured home policies there pay actual cash value (the depreciated value of the home) and exclude flood, which the National Flood Insurance Program covers. Policies vary by state and insurer. Ask each insurer how a claim would be paid, and price flood coverage separately if the home is in a flood zone.
Investing in manufactured homes
A home sold with its land is the closest thing to ordinary single family investing. If it is titled as real property on a permanent foundation, it can qualify for mortgage programs, which widens the pool of buyers when you sell, and it includes the land. National data the Urban Institute cites show land rising much faster than structures from 2012 to 2023, which says nothing about any one property. Before buying land for a manufactured home, check with the city or county that one can be placed there.
A home on a leased lot costs less to buy: the leased lot homes we could classify sold for a median $115,900 across all sales we tracked. Lot rent comes out of your tenant's rent every month, and your eventual buyer may be limited to chattel financing, which in 2019 cost about 4.5 percentage points more than a site built mortgage (8.6% against 4.1%), according to the CFPB. Rates have changed since, so get current quotes. Before renting one out, ask whether the community allows rentals, whether it must approve a buyer, and how lot rent has changed; then run the numbers with lot rent as a fixed expense. Our rental cash flow guide shows the method, and you can run a specific property through the deal analyzer.
For a flip, price the exit off nearby manufactured sales of the same age and land arrangement. Our house flipping costs breakdown lists what to budget for.
On buying a whole community, the June 2024 Philadelphia Fed report, citing a 2021 National Consumer Law Center count, says 20 states give residents a right of first refusal in certain circumstances, which lets them make the first offer to buy their community when it is listed for sale. ROC USA's network counted about 365 resident-owned communities with about 25,000 homes in 22 states as of October 2026, a count that leaves out communities outside its network.
How we measured this
- •Sales: closings Resideline tracked with sale dates from November 1, 2025 to October 31, 2026. Our coverage is heavier in some states, so these are medians of the sales we tracked and not an official national figure.
- •Cleaning: we started with 139,169 manufactured home records, removed duplicates (same address, unit and sale date), and dropped records priced outside $5,000 to $1,500,000, sized outside 300 to 4,000 square feet, or outside $5 to $1,000 per square foot. That left 127,870 sales in 49 states and 14,021 ZIP codes.
- •Build year: recorded for 98% of sales; 2,571 sales without a usable build year are left out of the build-year table. Era groups use build years from 1900 to 2026 and leave out the 1,899 homes built in 1976.
- •Land arrangement: identified for 30.1% of sales. Owned means sold with its land; leased means on a rented lot in a land lease community. The within ZIP land comparison uses 131 ZIP codes with at least 5 sales of each.
- •Same ZIP comparison: ZIP codes with at least 10 manufactured and 10 house sales, where houses are detached single family homes. For each ZIP code we compared the two medians, then took the median of those ratios across ZIP codes. The main comparison covers 3,272 ZIP codes, 95,248 manufactured sales and 922,406 house sales. The owned land and leased lot columns use only classified sales. The owned land column covers 219 ZIP codes with at least 5 owned land manufactured sales and 10 house sales; the leased lot column covers 960 ZIP codes with at least 10 leased lot sales and 10 house sales.
Sources
- •Census Bureau, Manufactured Housing Survey
- •Census Bureau, American Community Survey
- •CFPB, Manufactured Housing Finance: New Insights from HMDA (2021)
- •FHFA House Price Index
- •Urban Institute (November 2024)
- •Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (June 2024)
- •HUD manufactured housing resources
- •24 CFR 3282.12 (modular exclusion)
- •Federal Register notice on Public Law 119-101 (2026)
- •Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, consumer guide
Frequently Asked Questions
Do manufactured homes appreciate?
FHFA's index for manufactured homes, built from conventional mortgages on real property homes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac acquired, has risen about as much as its standard index since 2000, though FHFA labels the series developmental and may revise it. Chattel sales and homes on leased lots are not in that index, and Urban Institute researchers wrote in November 2024 that leased lot homes have likely not performed nearly as well. National data the Urban Institute cites show land rising much faster than structures from 2012 to 2023, which says nothing about any one property.
What is the difference between a manufactured home and a modular home?
A manufactured home is built in a factory to the federal HUD Code, which covers homes built on or after June 15, 1976. A modular home is built to state and local building codes and set on a permanent foundation. Factory built homes from before June 15, 1976 are called mobile homes.
How much cheaper is a manufactured home than a house in the same area?
In closings Resideline tracked from November 2025 to October 2026, manufactured homes sold for 62.5% of the house price per square foot in the typical ZIP code with at least 10 sales of each type. Across those ZIP codes the middle values were $127 per square foot for manufactured homes and $202 for detached houses, or $167,500 against $355,000 in total price. Homes on leased lots, measured as their own group of 960 ZIP codes with at least 10 leased lot sales and 10 house sales, sold for 33.6% of the house price per square foot in the typical ZIP code of that group.
Can you get a mortgage on a manufactured home?
Yes, if the home is titled as real property on a permanent foundation. Fannie Mae's MH Advantage, Freddie Mac's CHOICEHome and VA loans all require it, and the Census Bureau reports that 78% of new manufactured homes placed in 2024 were titled as personal property instead. Loans on personal property homes are chattel loans, which in 2019 cost about 4.5 percentage points more than a site built mortgage (8.6% against 4.1%), according to the CFPB. Rates have changed since, so get current quotes.
Is a manufactured home on a leased lot a good investment?
Leased lot homes we could classify sold for a median $115,900 across all sales we tracked, but the owner pays lot rent every month and a later buyer may be limited to chattel financing. Get the current rent and lease terms from the community and run cash flow with lot rent as a fixed expense before buying.
Are pre-1976 mobile homes worth less?
In closings Resideline tracked, homes built in 1975 or earlier sold for a median $100,000 and $104 per square foot, the lowest of the four build eras. Homes built in 2010 or later sold for a median $220,000 and $153 per square foot. The groups also differ in location, land arrangement and condition, so the gap mixes age with those differences.
About the author
Jeffrey Batista
Jeffrey Batista is the founder of Resideline, a real estate technology company building institutional grade valuation and investment analysis tools for real estate investors.
A software engineer with more than 10 years of experience, Jeffrey has worked across full stack development, infrastructure, data engineering, machine learning, and large scale systems. He left his engineering career to build Resideline full time.
Jeffrey is also a real estate investor with nearly a decade of hands on experience buying, renovating, managing, and analyzing residential properties. His experience on both sides of the industry, as an engineer and an investor, led him to build Resideline after seeing how fragmented and outdated many of the tools available to individual investors were.
Today, he leads the development of Resideline's proprietary data infrastructure, automated valuation models, rental analytics, and investment underwriting technology.
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