FEATURE

MANUFACTURED AFFORDABILITY: New Federal Legislation Could Help to Re-Shape New Hampshire’s Housing Landscape

By DAVE CUMMINGS

If you are a New Hampshire Realtor, you have likely spent much of the last few years counseling frustrated buyers who feel entirely priced out of the American Dream. With the median price of a traditional, site-built single-family home in the Granite State climbing to $580,000, the path to homeownership has felt narrower than ever. For over 75 consecutive months, New Hampshire has seen prices rise year-over-year, forcing young families, downsizers, and first-time buyers to watch from the sidelines.

Many buyers are looking toward more affordable housing options, and manufactured housing – with a median price of under $200,000 in New Hampshire – can be seen as an attractive alternative. Yet as demand increases, so too do price tags, and coupled with local zoning barriers, manufactured housing is an option that isn’t as simple or easy as perhaps it should be.

To those who wish it were, welcome the arrival of what may prove to be a monumental shift. The passage of the federal 21st Century Road to Housing Act represents the most significant update to housing policy in decades, especially as it relates to manufactured housing. By addressing a long-standing regulatory relic, this new federal law seeks to alter both the cost and the look of manufactured housing, potentially further unlocking an affordability pathway in New Hampshire.

“With New Hampshire in desperate need of more housing,” said Karen Soucy, executive director of the New Hampshire Manufactured Housing Association, “this shift could provide the momentum needed to finally achieve manufactured housing parity in the state and allow these homes to be permitted by right.”

The Evolution of the HUD Code

To understand how this law changes the game, it helps to look at the history of off-site construction. For 50 years, manufactured housing has been built to a nationally preemptive federal standard known as the HUD Code. This code ensured that homes built in factory environments were safe, durable, and highly energy efficient. Yet, an outdated 1970s provision remained: the mandate that every manufactured home be constructed on a permanent steel chassis.

Originally intended to keep homes transportable, this chassis requirement outlived its practical purpose, especially considering that fewer than 7 percent of manufactured homes are ever moved after initial installation. The new federal law finally eliminates this permanent steel chassis mandate.

“Removing such a burdensome requirement that manufactured housing have a permanent steel chassis, which is necessary for delivery but unneeded afterward, could be a game-changer,” said 2026 New Hampshire Realtors President Josh Greenwald. “If we are going see more affordability in housing, manufactured housing has to be part of the solution.”

“The change reinforces what the NHMHA has long advocated,” Soucy said, “that homes should be judged by their quality and safety, not simply by how or where they were constructed.”

According to housing policy analysts, removing the steel frame requirement reduces construction and installation costs by $5,000 to $10,000 per home, a savings of roughly 7 to 9 percent. Builders no longer need to purchase a steel chassis for every single section; instead, they can utilize reusable transportation frames. Furthermore, installation costs drop because site-preparers no longer need to dig excessively deep basements or crawlspaces just to hide a bulky steel undercarriage.

Breaking the Stigma: Design Flexibility and “CrossMods”

The financial relief is only half the story. From a real estate perspective, the most exciting component of the new law is the aesthetic transformation. Without the restriction of a permanent steel frame, manufacturers gain unprecedented design flexibility. Units can now be placed lower to the ground and stacked more efficiently. This makes multi-story and multi-unit manufactured configurations possible for the first time, which is essential for maximizing density on smaller, higher-cost lots across the state.

Sarah Marchant, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of the Resident Owned Communities (ROC-NH) program at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, says that modern factory-built homes are a far cry from old stereotypes.

“The manufactured housing of today is not the housing of the ’60s or the ’50s,” Marchant said during a recent appearance on the NHAR Getting Real podcast. “First, it’s not mobile. These homes are designed in factories in very secure environments – no wind, snow, or rain like our stick-built homes – and they are transported once and permanently affixed to a foundation.”

Marchant highlights a rising generation of homes known as CrossMods, which blur the line between site-built and manufactured real estate. Built to the federal HUD standard but completed on-site with traditional additions like porches, garages, and frost-wall foundations, she said these homes cost about 30 percent less to build than conventional stick-built homes yet look indistinguishable from them. 

The removal of the chassis requirement will only accelerate this visual evolution, making manufactured homes blend seamlessly into any traditional Granite State neighborhood.

“Modern manufactured housing is largely indistinguishable from a traditional ranch-style home,” Housing Action NH Director Nick Taylor told the New Hampshire Bulletin. “It is absolutely part of the solution.”

A Proven Wealth-Building Asset

For years, a persistent myth suggested that manufactured homes depreciate like vehicles. In New Hampshire, data has soundly debunked this narrative. Marchant points out that a recent five-year study in the state revealed manufactured homes appreciated faster than traditional site-built homes.

“These are truly appreciating real estate assets that offer homeownership opportunities to build equity and get your foot in the door,” she said.

The financial breakdown speaks for itself. Through the Community Loan Fund’s mortgage lending program – which pioneered the first fair, fixed-rate 30-year mortgage specifically for manufactured homes – the average cost to own a manufactured home is roughly $1,500 a month all-in. That includes the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and lot rent. Compare that to the average $1,800 a month required to rent a standard two-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire, and the value proposition becomes clear: Buyers are building equity in an asset they own for less than the price of a monthly rent check.

Demographics are Shifting: The New Buyer Profile

Because of this affordability, the buyer demographic is shifting significantly toward younger generations. Across New Hampshire, 46 percent of recent manufactured home buyers are between the ages of 24 and 40. Furthermore, Marchant notes that last year, an overwhelming 78 percent of the mortgages processed by the Community Loan Fund went to first-time homebuyers.

While it remains an excellent choice for retirees looking to downsize into vibrant, resident-owned communities (ROCs), it has increasingly become the primary vehicle for young working families trying to escape the rental trap.

The Next Hurdle: Local Zoning Barriers

While the federal law elegantly solves the chassis dilemma and lowers production costs, New Hampshire Realtors still face a major local obstacle: supply and zoning.

“Unfortunately, we have a supply-side issue here,” Marchant said. “In many communities, local zoning ordinances do not allow for you to put a manufactured home on your own land where you could put any other house.” Additionally, the geography zoned to allow for new manufactured housing communities is heavily restricted across the state.

For real estate professionals, the next collective mission is advocating at the local planning and zoning board levels. The federal government has updated the framework to deliver high-quality, lower-cost, and beautifully designed homes. Now, it is up to New Hampshire’s municipalities to rewrite antiquated local codes and welcome these innovative housing solutions into our neighborhoods.

“Federal housing policy is moving toward treating manufactured homes based on objective building and safety standards rather than how they are constructed,” Soucy said, “and HUD is encouraging states and municipalities to reconsider restrictions where comparable site-built homes are already permitted.

“If New Hampshire continues modernizing its laws, the state can add homes more quickly and at prices more Granite Staters can afford.” ∩

Dave Cummings is the Vice President of Communications at New Hampshire Realtors