Manufactured Home Community Sector Attractive to Investors
Brookfield Fund Sells $325 Million of Manufactured Home Sites
(Source: Bloomberg) – A Brookfield Asset Management LTD. The property fund sold a large chunk of a manufactured housing portfolio as the company seeks to capitalize on growing demand for the sector.
The $325 million deal consists of 19 manufactured housing communities across seven U.S. states, totaling 3,166 home sites, according to a Brookfield spokesperson. The sale resulted in a gross internal rate of return of roughly 24%, the spokesperson said. The company declined to name the buyer.
Brookfield snapped up the bulk of its manufactured housing communities in 2017 and bought more in 2021. But the opportunistic property fund has recently been seeking to sell some of these assets, striking a deal in August to off load 23 communities. The sector has been helped by strong demand, according to Swarup Katuri, a managing partner of Brookfield Real Estate.
The latest sale “reflects the ongoing strength of the manufactured housing sector as well as the execution of our strategy to earn a favorable return and return capital to our investors,” Katuri said in an estimated statement.
UMH Properties (UMH) Occupancy & Rent Rise on Solid Demand
(Source:Excerpts from report by ZACKS) – UMH Properties recently provided an update on its operating results for the year ended 2023. The results underscore the continued demand for manufactured home communities, resulting in occupancy gains and solid rent growth throughout the year. Remarkably, the company’s equity market capitalization was more than $1 billion as of the end of 2023. Shares of the company witnessed a marginal loss on the Jan 5 normal trading session on the NYSE.
Per the update, this residential real estate investment trust (REIT), specializing in the ownership and operation of manufactured home communities, rented 1,040 new homes in 2023, bringing the total number of homes under its ownership to 10,000. Notably, 130 of the total were rented out during the fourth quarter last year.
Samuel A. Landy, president and CEO of UMH Properties, commented, “installing and renting 1,040 new homes during the year is the equivalent of building and occupying a 1040-unit apartment complex within one year. It’s an incredible accomplishment made possible by our success in acquiring manufactured home communities with vacancies, making capital and operational improvements, and adding cost-effective and energy-efficient manufactured homes. We look forward to building on the momentum we created in 2023.”
