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The RV market may be picking up speed again

Jun 20, 2024
Recreational vehicle sales cratered in 2023 after a pandemic boost. Shipments are on track to be up 10% this year compared to last.
Shipments of recreational vehicles are on track to be up 10% this year compared to last. Above, an RV show in February 2023.
Giorgia Viera/AFP via Getty Images

RV sales could be an indicator of a smoother ride for the economy

Apr 1, 2024
Sales of these expensive vehicles peaked in 2021, decelerated by more than 50% last year, and are starting to turn up again. That can tell us something about the economy overall.
"RVs do extraordinarily well in predicting business cycles because they’re such a big, volatile consumption piece for most American consumers," says economist Michael Hicks.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

After flooring it, RV sales slow down

May 29, 2023
Shipments of new vehicles are down over 50% since their pandemic highs as the industry heads into summer.
A Winnebago motor home. Recreational vehicles moved quickly off the lots during the pandemic, but purchases have stalled.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

RV sales are up amid pandemic travel limitations

Nov 25, 2020
Over the summer, many people didn’t go on vacation and stay in hotels. Instead, they bought RVs.
The RV industry is having a hard time keeping up with demand, partly because RV makers were forced to shut down for a while in the early days of the pandemic.
Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

For one Denver couple, home is a 25-foot RV

May 26, 2020
They wanted to save money and live more simply. Then came quarantine.
Rebecca and Michael Nunziato live in an RV in Denver, with a cat, dog and hedgehog.
Courtesy Michael and Rebecca Nunziato

RVs are becoming an alternative to high rents in LA

Dec 19, 2017
As rents rise in the city, some people seek out cheaper alternatives like RVs.
This once-inhabited RV sits on a tow lot in South Los Angeles. If no one claims it, it'll go up for sale. L.A. officials say increasingly, investors buy up RV's like this and rent them out to people who have trouble finding affordable housing. 
Rina Palta/ for Marketplace

When it's not granny in that Winnebago

Oct 16, 2013
“The unofficial economic indicator,” reports earnings tomorrow. Winnebago is selling RVs to older folks (duh) but also to thirtysomethings.

For public good, not for profit.

Mobile homes: The original housing bubble

Jul 26, 2013
The mobile home industry had its heyday 15 years ago. Since then, sales have fallen by about 90 percent.