Cost Comparison of Manufactured Housing and Site-built Construction

According to the most recent annual data from the US Census Bureau manufactured housing continues to provide homeowners with considerable costs savings when compared to site-built construction.

The average price per square foot of a new single-section manufactured home was just $81.70 in 2023, while the average price per square foot of a new multi-section manufactured home was $88.16.

For comparison the average price per square foot for a new single-family site-built home excluding the land was $165.94, so single-section manufactured homes were on average less than half the price per square foot of houses constructed on-site, and multi-section homes were 47% less per square foot than new site-built homes.

The Census Bureau does not publish a similar price per structure for multi-family construction but Fannie Mae commissioned a study with The Gordian Group that develops the RS Means construction data service that put the hard costs alone for building a 4-7-story building at $171 a square foot for Dallas, TX in 2019, well before the post-pandemic run up in inflation.

HUD-code manufactured housing continues to be the most affordable form of unsubsidized new home construction and the most cost effective way to achieve home ownership.

This interactive chart is built off of the US Census Bureau’s Manufactured Housing Survey (MHS) Tables

The Census Bureau releases cost and size comparisons for new manufactured homes and new single-family site-built homes for the previous year each June.