A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MOBILE HOME PARK INVESTING
In 2019 sales of mobile home parks increased by 20% as more investors, private equity groups, family offices, multifamily investors focused on apartments π’, and single family home π investors look to invest in affordable housing.
Why have mobile home parks aka trailer parks, land leased communities, manufactured housing communities or simply mhps garnered so much attention from investors?
π Mobile home parks provide the only unsubsidized form of affordable housing for millions of Americans. However, despite this great need, zoning and regulations make them near impossible to develop. Increasing demand and decreasing supply are why billionaire investors such as Sam Zell and Warren Buffett have made huge bets on the industry.
Β RECESSIONS, COVID 19, & MOBILE HOME PARKS
A look back shows that both Sun Communities and ELS Communities showed same store NOI growth from 2000-2020, even during the 2007-2009. By contrast the rest of the REITs show negative growth during downturns.
As of April / May 2020, Sun Communities, ELS, and UMH, the three largest publicly traded REITs that own mobile home parks, all show strong year over year collections rates. Regarding rent deferral requests from residents, Sun reported less than 3% across itβs 136,000 occupied homesites, ELS 0.35% across its 150,000 occupied homesites, while UMH reported only 80 out of 19,000 residents asked for deferrals.