A COMPARISON OF THE DETERMINANTS OF STRUCTURAL QUALITY BETWEEN MANUFACTURED HOUSING AND CONVENTIONAL TENURE CHOICES - EVIDENCE FROM THE AMERICAN HOUSING SURVEY

This study employs data from the 1985-1989 American Housing Surveys to compare the cost and perceived structural quality of owned manufactur ed housing with traditional rented and owner-occupied housing alternat ives. In general, manufactured housing is found to compare favorably t o traditional alternatives because of its low cost and households' per ceptions that its structural quality is relatively high. An ordinal pr obit model is used to examine the way in which specific structural att ributes affect households' ordinal ranking of overall structural quali ty. This experimentation suggests that the same factors are important across all tenure types in influencing perceived structural quality. I n addition, it is demonstrated that, under the right circumstances, ma nufactured housing could be a cost-effective way to improve the qualit y of housing for low-income families who currently rent. Finally, sugg estions are made regarding policy options and future research on manuf actured housing. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.