WASHINGTON, DC–At the beginning of the month Fannie Mae launched a program for manufactured housing that is specifically tailored to New Hampshire, following state legislation that allows residents to take ownership of a portion of the land that their manufactured homes sits on.

It is a significant departure from how the GSE usually lends on manufacturing housing stock because the state law allows Fannie Mae to treat the housing that sits on these resident-owned communities as a home and not as chattel or personal property, Fannie Mae's Patrick McCarthy tells GlobeSt.com. “We can now lend on that home just like any other 30-year mortgage,” he says. The end result is that New New Hampshire's affordable housing stock will expand and ultimately there will be more paper for Fannie Mae's manufacturing housing securities.

Manufactured housing is part of the GSE's affordability mandate; the housing category is not part of the GSE's cap, thus allowing the GSEs to underwrite large loans such as the $1 billion recap of the manufactured housing assets belonging to the Denver-based Yes! Communities last year.

This year, GSE lending for manufactured housing got a further boost when the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that GSEs would be able to start purchasing chattel loans. Given that 70% of all manufactured housing activity is financed by chattel lending, this was a major development for the industry.

Admittedly, New Hampshire represents a miniscule portion of the nation's manufactured housing stock, but McCarthy is hopeful that other states may put in place similar laws once they see what is happening in New Hampshire.

Currently 10 resident owned communities in the state have Fannie Mae approval for the program and are immediately available for 30-year financing. The GSE's goal is to help get six more parks converted to resident-owned communities.

“If other states allow manufactured homes to be a treated like a typical home and not like personal property we can move the program to those locations,” McCarthy says.

“This program is very much scalable.”

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Fannie Mae

“If other states allow manufactured homes to be a treated like a typical home and not like personal property we can move the program to those locations,” McCarthy says.

“This program is very much scalable.”

Save

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State Law Lets Fannie Mae Expand Manufactured Housing Finance

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