Freddie Mac will soon see no difference between certain manufactured homes and traditional single-family housing from a financing standpoint.
The government-sponsored enterprise announced Friday that it is rolling out a new financing program for manufactured housing that will bring conventional financing to factory-built housing.
The program, which is called CHOICEHome, is a two-year pilot that will allow for conventional financing for certain manufactured homes. The homes that will be eligible for the program have features like permanent foundations and pitched roofs.
Many of these homes also come with energy-saving features like Energy Star Qualified Low-E windows, programmable thermostats and minimum insulation values.
According to Freddie Mac, it will treat loans secured by CHOICEHome like loans that are secured by single-family site-built homes.
“If a factory-built home meets certain specifications, it will be granted a CHOICEHome certification and will be eligible for CHOICEHome financing,” Freddie Mac said, adding that its loan products HomeOne and Home Possible will be available for manufactured housing.
Additionally, Freddie Mac said that appraisers will be able to use site-built housing as a comparable for valuation.
The program is part of Freddie Mac’s Duty to Serve plan, which focuses on supporting underserved markets by financing more rural and manufactured housing and preserving more affordable housing for homebuyers and renters nationwide.
“Today’s manufactured homes can deliver outstanding quality at prices that are up to 50% less per square foot than conventional site-built homes,” Freddie Mac noted. “These savings can enable more Americans to own their own home, even in the face of an ever-widening housing affordability gap.”
According to Freddie Mac, to meet the CHOICEHome eligibility requirements, manufacturers and lenders must follow Department of Housing and Urban Development-code guidelines for the construction and siting of the home in order, and lenders must follow local and state guidelines for manufactured housing titled as real property.
“Finding a home is more difficult than ever because of the ongoing housing supply shortage in many parts of the country, especially when looking for a home at a lower price point,” said Mike Dawson, vice president of Single-Family Affordable Lending Strategy and Policy at Freddie Mac.
“Currently there are more than 22 million families living in factory-built housing, and with that number expected to grow, there’s an opportunity for factory-built homes to address the housing supply shortage and quality housing overall,” Dawson added. “This new generation of manufactured housing might just be the best option for first-time homebuyers, Millennials, and empty-nesters looking to downsize.”
