One of my favorite articles that @stockopine has written is on Skyline Champions Corp $SKY, an owner of various companies that produce manufactured and modular homes, park model RVs, accessory dwelling units (“ADUs”), and modular buildings for the multi-family and hospitality sectors. With interest rates being higher now than during the peak of the housing bubble in 2006, demand for affordable housing is increasing to new heights.

No longer is it back during the pre-pandemic tech boom days when lower interest rates allowed more people to compete for traditional homes and shun manufactured homes. With rates being very high, traditional homes are now seen as a luxury only for the wealthy. Most homebuyers are left with mobile homes as their only choice for affordable housing. StockOpine does the math in this article that shows that in these high-interest-rate environments, the monthly payments favor manufactured homes over traditional homes. StockOpine even does the math in that article to explain why manufactured homes weren’t as competitive as traditional homes during times of lower interest rates. While there is a stigma against manufactured homes, as survivability becomes an issue for many, people will become more open to living in a manufactured home.

While lending options for manufactured homes have been limited historically, Skyline’s investment in ECN Capital in August allows Skyline to extend more credit to customers and boost sales simultaneously. Even Warren Buffett’s Clayton Homes and Cavaco don’t have an in-house financing arm. Since the financing will be in-house, Skyline can offer more attractive financing terms to customers than what third-party lenders offer. Furthermore, since many of these third-party lenders in the manufactured homes space are banks, Skyline’s in-house finance arm ensures Skyline’s customers that they can reliably have access to financing especially when the banking industry is having a crisis of confidence.

I highly recommend reading his two write-ups on Skyline here:

Detailed write-up: https://www.stockopine.com/p/skyline-champion-corporation-a-compelling?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fskyline&utm_medium=reader2

Update on the detailed write-up: https://www.stockopine.com/p/skyline-on-an-acquisition-spree?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2