Mobile home parks function differently than multifamily assets. The investor owns the land lot and tenants own their home. “This has many benefits including the stability of the tenant base and pride of ownership in the assets. Furthermore, the homes are very costly to move, usually $5,000, and are typically only worth $5,000-$20,000. The mathematics results in the tenants staying for much longer than other asset classes,” says Thompson.

The rise in investor activity will ultimately drive up pricing, and Thompson says there is a shelf life to this opportunity. “There has been a market disequilibrium in the mobile home park business due to the favorable risk-adjusted return possible in the asset classes, but the market is in the process of correcting it, which will eventually result in the opportunity drying up,” he says . “However, we think there is still several years before that truly happens.”

While there are still opportunities, more investors are continuing to enter the market. Thompson adds, “Especially, given where prices are in multifamily, we continue to expect more competitors in the asset class, but our operating partners' and onsite managers ability to out execute the competition has been tested through decades and we do not see that changing anytime soon.”