More statistics, with some regional implications

A few days ago I spent some time pouring over the Residential Finance Survey. Its a great document. I am going to return to it today.

Some things that strike me as interesting, within the pages of this report:

• More mobile homes are sold used, in every region in the country, than are sold as “new.” This explains the relatively low mean and median sales prices contained elsewhere within the RFS. It also refutes the argument that these properties cease to have value after they leave the lot. Yes, they may decline in value some, but people still are willing to pay for the chance to live in them. A used mobile home is still a home.
• Homes in the South are the ones most likely to undergo capital improvements. This discrepancy between the South and other regions is so high that it makes me want to question how the numbers were calculated.  It just cannot be this distinct.  There must be some explanation.
• The rate of capital improvements in the South may be interrelated to the high rate of resale activity in the South. More homes are sold in the South than in any other region. It might also be that homes in the South skew to the lower end of the value spectrum. Almost 330,000 homes in the South are supposed to be worth less than $5,000. (Note: these are 2001 figures) That is more than twice as many as all other regions of the country combined.
• No mobile homes (or less than 1000) receive funds from a state, municipal, or federal government for a designation as a historical structure.
• Some do get subsidies. The most common reason is owing to characteristics of the residents — as either seniors or low income individuals. I think the latter reflects the local interpretation of mobile home rents for Section 8 funds.
• home are most likely to be located in rural areas in the South and in the Midwest. In these regions, roughly as many mobile homes are located outside of metropolitan areas as within metropolitan areas. These statistics might be a bit misleading, because they fail to differentiate between a home in an exurban region of a MSA — think of Chilton County, Alabama (Birmingham) or Granville County, North Carolina (Raleigh) — and homes in the center city.
• Home buyers were most likely to pay all cash in the West. In fact, more paid cash out West than took out a mortgage in the period from 1996 to 2001. Borrowers were most likely to get financing in the South.