The manufactured housing industry, a critical source of affordable housing in the U.S., has long suffered from a lack of connectivity. Buyers and homeowners often struggle to find essential services like transport, installation, title, financing, and insurance. To bridge this gap, MHarketplace (mharketplace.com) launched today, offering a nationwide directory of manufactured home communities and a network of service professionals, aiming to make affordable homeownership more accessible.
The platform arrives at a time when the industry is booming. With roughly 100,000 new homes shipped annually and an average price of about $115,600, a new manufactured home costs less than one-third of a comparable site-built house. National occupancy rates are near 95 percent, making communities effectively full. Researchers view manufactured housing as a vital tool in closing the affordability gap.
Yet, the industry remains difficult to navigate for its primary audience—often first-time buyers making a major purchase. Questions about titles, financing, transportation, insurance, and land are answered by dozens of disconnected businesses, with no single place to connect them all. Jacob Campbell, founder of MHarketplace, observed, “The problem was never a lack of good people. The expertise exists everywhere in this industry. What’s been missing is the connection—homeowners simply don’t know these businesses exist. MHarketplace makes the ecosystem visible.”
MHarketplace’s features include a searchable community directory, a trusted services network, education resources, and listings for buying, selling, and renting homes. The platform is designed to complement existing listing marketplaces by addressing the surrounding aspects of the transaction—education, services, and community living. Campbell emphasizes, “Visibility isn’t marketing—it’s opportunity. Great businesses deserve to be found, and homeowners deserve to find them. Manufactured homes have improved dramatically; public perception hasn’t kept pace. Every confident, well-informed homeowner helps close that gap, and that strengthens the entire industry.”
The platform is launching state by state, with national coverage of community directories. Businesses can claim and enhance their listings, while homeowners and buyers can browse communities, services, and educational resources free of charge. MHarketplace aims to make the entire ecosystem visible, connecting homeowners with the businesses that serve them and simplifying the path to affordable homeownership.
