Aberdeen has been growing quietly for years, and the housing has not kept up. If you have been watching listings in Brown County and wondering where the newer, move in ready homes are, you are not alone.
The City of Aberdeen’s 2024 Housing Study Update found high occupancy in rental housing, limited unused housing capacity, and upward price pressure on both rent and purchase prices, a sign that demand is outrunning supply. The study expects the city to add about 124 households in a typical year. The median sale price of existing homes rose from $149,500 in 2018 to $209,000 in 2023, and early 2024 sales were running higher still.
The Census Bureau puts Aberdeen’s population at 27,961 (July 2025 estimate), with a median owner occupied home value of $217,300 in the 2020 to 2024 survey. A lot of what is on the market is older housing that needs work. A REDI-BUILT home gives you a new home without waiting a full season or more for a crew to build one on site.
Aberdeen’s steady employers include Avera St. Luke’s, Sanford, 3M, Northern State University and Agtegra Cooperative. The newer story is about 38 miles north in Ellendale, North Dakota, where Applied Digital’s Polaris Forge 1 data center campus is under construction, with full completion targeted for 2027. Local leaders expect a few hundred permanent jobs once construction wraps up, and Ellendale itself has very little housing to offer. Many of those workers will look at Aberdeen and the towns in between.
If you are taking one of those jobs, note that Ellendale’s city code allows modular homes built to state code, and only allows manufactured homes in residential districts if they are at least doublewide and permanently affixed. Ask us which REDI-BUILT models fit.
Every Centennial REDI-BUILT home is built indoors by Friendship Homes, to the same residential building code as a home built on site. It comes with:
Friendship buys materials in bulk, and the savings are passed on to you.
Aberdeen winters are long, and that is exactly why indoor construction matters. Your home is framed, roofed and finished in a heated plant while the weather does whatever it wants outside. The site work is a different story. Aberdeen’s local code calls for footings at 48 inches below grade to get under the frost, so foundation timing still depends on ground conditions. Order this winter, and your home can be ready to set when the ground is.
Inside city limits, building permits go through the City of Aberdeen Building Inspection office at City Hall, 123 S. Lincoln St. (Building Inspection page, 605-626-7017). Outside the city, check with Brown County planning and zoning before you buy land. Either way, confirm the zoning district allows the home type you want before you commit to a lot.
Can I put a REDI-BUILT home on an acreage outside town? Often, yes. Brown County, Day, Spink, Edmunds and the other counties we serve each have their own rules, so start with the county planning office and bring the legal description of the land.
I am taking a job at the Ellendale data center. Can you deliver in North Dakota? Yes. We serve Dickey and Sargent counties as well as northeast South Dakota. Remember Ellendale’s doublewide and affixation rules, and ask early about the route and any lines that need to be moved.
How long will it take? That depends on the model, your site work and the season.
What does winter mean for my project? The home is built indoors, so the house keeps moving forward. Digging footings 48 inches down is the part that waits on the ground, so plan the foundation with your contractor early.
Our lot is 1 1/2 miles south of Aberdeen on Highway 281 (2333 U.S. 281). We are open Monday to Friday 8 AM to 6 PM, Saturday 8 AM to 5 PM, or any time by appointment.
Call (605) 225-8300 or stop by the lot. Family owned since 1969.