Manufactured Home Capital Demand Soars During the Pandemic

The pandemic has helped to fuel demand for manufactured housing financing. In the last seven months, JLL Capital Markets has closed seven manufactured housing deals totaling 1,038 home sites in Southern California totaling $118 million and $46.4 million for a 17-property manufactured housing portfolio in Phoenix totaling 1,050 home sites. The unrelated deals had different borrowers and lenders, but all included fixed-rate financing.

“The rising cost of single-family housing in major markets around the US has solidified manufactured home communities as an attractive lower cost alternative for families and retirees,” Zach Koucos, managing director at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s also a lifestyle choice, which enables the pride of home ownership in a community setting, often with appealing amenities. Residents in MHC’s enjoy the space of their own detached home as opposed to an apartment unit, or a site-built single-family home, which they may not be able to afford.” Koucos led the debt placement on behalf of the borrowers, along with director Chris Collins as well as senior managing director Jeremy Womack.

These deals illustrate the rising demand for manufactured housing, and the role the asset class could play in affordable housing options. “Our recent transactions in California and Arizona are good representations of the solutions that manufactured home communities provide in urban markets that need affordable housing,” says Koucos. “These are markets where for years the priority has been put on higher density developments. The overall occupancy and reliability of home site rents within MHC’s in California and Arizona, particularly during the pandemic, evidences the need for this type of lower density affordable housing.”

This is not a temporary trend. Koucos expects to see continued interest in manufactured homes and activity through 2021. “I don’t expect to see any decrease in market interest for MHC’s next year,” he says. “Limited supply, strong rent collections, and low vacancy continue to drive demand to this sector. We’ve seen an increasing number of institutional investors and private equity enter the MHC space, with many more exploring and raising or reserving capital for this asset class.”

The assets also provide a good opportunity for investors looking to place capital while limiting pandemic-related risk. “From a risk perspective, more investors are targeting alternative assets such as manufactured home communities given the challenges faced in other commercial real estate segments during the pandemic,” adds Koucos. “Given the abundance of equity and debt capital, and the viability of manufactured housing during these uncertain times, we expect that there will be significant capital markets activity in this sector over the next year.”