Just taking an informal Rv sales poll

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
The manufacturers are telling their stockholders that they can barely keep up with the demand for new RVs.

Yes that are a lot of them sitting on dealer lots, on resale lots.

What I'm seeing most in regions south of St Louis is an increasing number of small 20-40 sized RV parks being built. They are bare bones gravel lots with no amenities except a small two or three washer / dryer laundry.

They are intended for full-time residents who never travel.

My personal opinion is that much of the growth in new RV sales is not for recreation, but as a primary residence for young families with no money for a home or apartment.

Middle ages families squeezed out of homes or apartments by being unable to afford that housing any longer with low wage jobs and poor skill levels.

Older families and seniors without an income to support traditional housing.

Those long term residents are in the new near slums, and more and more people are being forced to that as the only option to being completely homeless.

Pretty dim view of the country considering unemployment is near record lows. We are strictly a vacation park and are turning people away on a daily basis. Visitations at Glacier and Yellowstone are at record highs. Housing prices are increasing because people are buying properties. Same with rental rates. Obviously there are plenty of people making the money to afford those properties. That is simple supply and demand. If people are making low wages it is likely because they either do not have the skills needed in the workforce or they are not willing to relocate to where the jobs are. South of Saint Louis Missouri is not exactly the best place to find a good paying job. As of July, the unemployment rate in Missouri was 3.4 percent which is .5 percent better than the national average. There are eight counties in Missouri where the unemployment rate exceeds 5.9 percent and 6 of them are in the Southeastern corner of the state known as the Boot Heel area. It sure looks like a local problem which would solved by moving. You are much more likely to find a job by going where the jobs are rather than sit around hoping a job comes to you. If all these displaced people actually exist (and I actually doubt it) it is likely the cause is their own poor decisions, not a failing economy.
And as most RVers know, an RV in a RV park is not some panacea for cheap living. If there are people buying new and used RVs as some sort of solution for their financial issues they aren't bailing themselves out, they are digging a deeper hole.

Well we just bought ours last Sunday and there were at least 4 other people buying that day while we were there as well. Personally I was kind of shocked it was that busy. Somehow I didn’t think these sold all that often. Sales guy told me they have been cranking like that for weeks.

The manufacturers are telling their stockholders that they can barely keep up with the demand for new RVs.

Yes that are a lot of them sitting on dealer lots, on resale lots.

What I'm seeing most in regions south of St Louis is an increasing number of small 20-40 sized RV parks being built. They are bare bones gravel lots with no amenities except a small two or three washer / dryer laundry.

They are intended for full-time residents who never travel.

My personal opinion is that much of the growth in new RV sales is not for recreation, but as a primary residence for young families with no money for a home or apartment.

Middle ages families squeezed out of homes or apartments by being unable to afford that housing any longer with low wage jobs and poor skill levels.

Older families and seniors without an income to support traditional housing.

Those long term residents are in the new near slums, and more and more people are being forced to that as the only option to being completely homeless.

RVIA numbers say that each of the last several years set new records. I doubt that will change prior to a downturn in the economy or large rise in interest rates.

Big Katuna wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
Cooling off. I see inventory stacking up everywhere.

Of course inventory is building in Florida, winter is the peak sales season with all the snowbirds migrating in. The northern sales season is about over, so those dealers will be paring back inventory and the manufacturers are shifting and sending inventory to the southern sales territories. Happens every year, both in good times and bad.

I’m in Ohio for two months.

Since you are only there for two months how can you possibly know if inventories are high or low compared to normal? For all anyone knows, the local dealers could have had record sales and inventories were extremely low when you first saw the lot and now they are just getting back to normal levels. A dealer I know has several storage lots and they pull inventory from those lots that are not on the main property to keep the main display lot located on the busy main highway full at all times. To the casual observer they inventory never seems to go down, even though they sell over a hundred units a month.

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
Cooling off. I see inventory stacking up everywhere.

Of course inventory is building in Florida, winter is the peak sales season with all the snowbirds migrating in. The northern sales season is about over, so those dealers will be paring back inventory and the manufacturers are shifting and sending inventory to the southern sales territories. Happens every year, both in good times and bad.

I’m in Ohio for two months.

Kid's shop, he does a few things for rv dealers. Last months numbers compared to same month previous year. Less incoming billable hours and more overdue. So either oem's are assembling them better (so less work for him) or sales are slowing, hence less work. Over 30 days late up, 45 days late both up. Over 60 days late, same.
Now with lien

When the tarrifs take effect and the cost goes up 25 percent, sales will really increase. :B

Not sure myself but I wonder just how many new, questionable quality, over priced RV's the public can afford. Has to be a saturation point at some point.

Big Katuna wrote:
Cooling off. I see inventory stacking up everywhere.

Of course inventory is building in Florida, winter is the peak sales season with all the snowbirds migrating in. The northern sales season is about over, so those dealers will be paring back inventory and the manufacturers are shifting and sending inventory to the southern sales territories. Happens every year, both in good times and bad.