The affordability of manufactured housing is mainly attributable to the efficiencies of the factory process. The controlled environment and assembly-line techniques remove many of the problems of the site-built sector, such as poor weather, theft, vandalism and damage to building products and materials stored on site. Also, factory employees are trained, scheduled and managed by one employer, as opposed to the system of contracted labor in the site-built sector.

Manufactured home producers also benefit from the economies of scale which result from being able to purchase large quantities of building materials and products. As a result they are able to negotiate the lowest possible price for items that are invariably more expensive in a site-built house.

According to a 2002 report released by the Millennial Housing commission, manufactured housing remains one of the largest sources of non-subsidized housing in the nation. The report also cites that manufactured housing accounted for almost 72% of the growth in the nation's affordable housing stock in the 1990s. It is imperative that manufactured housing remain affordable to those that need it most.

According to the 2002 Apgar Report, “An Examination of Manufactured Housing as a
Community- and Asset-Building Strategy,” over the past decade and a half, manufactured housing has emerged as an important affordable housing option. Among households with very-low incomes (less than 50% of AMI) 23 percent of homeownership growth between 1993 and 1999 came from manufactured housing.