New RV Sales January 2026: Trends for U.S. Dealers
Read MoreA Fresh Data-Driven Look at 130,607 U.S. RV Listings
In today’s RV market, most dealers aren’t struggling because of slow demand, they’re struggling because the rules they were taught no longer apply. A new analysis of 130,607 active RV listings across the U.S. shows that widely accepted truths about pricing, stocking, and turnover are no longer aligned with real-world data.
The biggest takeaway?
Dealers aren’t just dealing with aging inventory, they’re misreading demand altogether.
And when demand is misread, floorplan costs rise, ordering becomes reactive, and profit potential shrinks. What follows is a myth-busting breakdown of the five biggest assumptions hurting RV dealers today, backed by national data from all 50 states.
Myth #1: “Entry-Level RVs Sell the Fastest.”
Reality: Luxury RVs ($100k+) Turn Faster Than Budget Units.
For years, dealers believed a simple rule:
Budget RVs = fast turnover.
Luxury RVs = slow, high-risk inventory.
The data tells the opposite story.
- Budget RVs (<$30k): 164 days average age
- Luxury RVs ($100k+): 153 days average age
- Fresh inventory (<50 days old):
- Budget units: 23.5%
- Luxury units: 31.0%
Luxury buyers, despite a smaller segment, are decisive, consistent, and less price-sensitive, leading to faster turns and higher-margin opportunities.
Myth #2: “Lower Prices Always Improve Turns.”
Reality: The Midwest Has the Slowest Turnover, Even With Lower Prices.
Midwest dealers price aggressively… yet inventory still sits the longest.
- Midwest average age: 168.8 days
- West Coast average age: 144.8 days
- Midwest avg price: $55,986
- West Coast avg price: $61,403
Despite lower prices, Midwest inventory ages 24 days longer on average.
This isn’t a pricing issue, it’s a market saturation issue. The Midwest holds 25.7% of national inventory, creating oversupply that suppresses turnover regardless of price.
Myth #3: “Popular Models Are Always Safe to Stock Deep.”
Reality: Coleman Trims Are Oversaturated, and Dealers Don’t Realize It.
Keystone’s Coleman line represents an astonishing 4.75% of the entire U.S. RV market, a concentration rarely seen for a single model line.
Three trims alone (13B, 17B, 17R) represent 2,603 units nationally.
The 17R trim is the warning sign:
- 228 days average age, 7.6 months on lots
- Sitting longer than almost any mainstream travel trailer trim in the country
This is no longer a “high-volume favorite.” It’s a market saturation risk.
Dealers holding >15% Coleman inventory are exposed to declines in entry-level demand that haven’t been fully realized yet — a risk that could compress margins across multiple states.
Myth #4: “Premium Brands Perform the Same Regardless of State.”
Reality: Geography Determines Premium RV Success.
Premium brands like Airstream, Alliance, Entegra, Grand Design behave differently depending on market demographics. And many allocations are going to the wrong markets.
California:
- 137-day average age
- Strongest luxury demand
- Fresh premium inventory
Oklahoma:
- 321-day average age
- Worst premium brand performance in the U.S.
- Units age 2.3× longer than California
Manufacturers continue shipping high-end units into markets that cannot absorb them, resulting in:
- Artificial discounting
- Brand erosion
- Unnecessary floorplan costs
- Dealers stuck with 6–12 months of premium inventory
This isn’t a dealer problem, it’s a distribution alignment problem.
Myth #5: “Holding Out for Retail Pricing Always Pays Off.”
Reality: Nearly 10% of RV Inventory Has Been Sitting for Over a Year.
12,823 units nationwide have crossed the 365+ day threshold, now averaging 503 days — that’s 1.38 years of accumulating costs.
This segment alone represents $784 million in trapped inventory value.
Top contributors include:
Forest River: 3,578 units over a year old
Keystone: 1,369 units
Jayco: 942 units
With floorplan rates at 8%, dealers are absorbing $63.5M per year in interest on this aging segment alone. These units no longer have retail pricing potential — they require decisive liquidation strategies.
What This Means for Dealers: The Real Problem Is Misreading Demand
These myths reveal a painful truth:
Dealers are not operating with real-time demand signals.
The industry still relies on assumptions from 2018–2020, but the market of 2025 behaves very differently. Oversupply in some regions, misallocated premium brands, saturated entry-level segments, and underappreciated luxury momentum all point to one conclusion:
Dealers who rely on intuition will fall behind those who rely on data.
Conclusion: The RV Market Isn’t Slow. It’s Misunderstood.
The RV industry isn’t suffering from a demand problem. It’s suffering from a misinterpretation problem.
Understanding these five myths, and the true data behind them, gives dealers a path to:
- Faster inventory turns
- Lower floorplan costs
- Stronger margins
- Better-stocked lots
- Higher operational resilience
The dealers who embrace this data-driven view of inventory, instead of relying on assumptions, will lead the next era of RV market performance.
