PHOENIX-Investor interest in manufactured housing communities in Arizona is stronger than it has ever been, according to Russ Warner, a first vice president with Cassidy Turley/BRE Commercial. The state’s growing senior population, coupled with the sector’s history of steady performance, is attracting investors from across nation.

“Investors who own mobile home parks want more of them, and those who left the sector are coming back to it because they enjoy the stability it offers,” Warner tells GlobeSt.com, noting that properties trade for cap rates ranging from mid-6% to mid-7%.

In the past two months, Warner has sold three manufactured housing communities to out-of-state investors. One of the investors had shifted to medical office buildings before deciding that he preferred manufactured housing instead. He did a 1031 exchange out of the MOBs into mobile home parks because they offered a lower risk. Similarly, the other buyer had been focused on self-storage for the past several years, but decided to re-enter the manufactured housing sector.