| AVERAGE USEFUL LIFE OF MH
EXCEEDS 55 YRS., STUDY FINDS
The popular notion that manufactured
homes are short-lived, "temporary" dwellings received a knock-out punch in a
recently released study conducted at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Carol Meeks, professor and head of
the Department of Housing and Consumer Economics at the university, found that 84 percent
of the 10.7 million factory-built homes shipped between 1945 and 1994 were still in use.
She estimated that the average manufactured home occupied the year round should last 55.8
years, which is 22 years longer than previously forcasted.
The new study took into account
seasonal and vacant homes as well as those occupied the year round. Of the 9 million homes
currently sited, more that 8 million were occupied the year round, Meeks found.
Another 695,000 homes were occupied seasonally and 630,000 were vacant.
In 1991, the American Housing Survey
(AHS) estimated that there were only 7.4 million manufactured homes were currently sited.
According to MHI, AHS missed about 25 percent of the new homes then sited due to
insufficient data collection by the Bureau of the Census.
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