MH Community News: Invesco Real Estate Launches Platform to Boost Manufactured Housing Industry
Source: Dallas Innovates – Dallas-based Invesco Real Estate, a global real estate investment management business, has launched Homestead Communities, a real estate operating company dedicated to addressing the nation’s affordable housing crisis by providing safe, clean, and supportive communities where working families and retirees can own or rent affordable, high-quality, single family manufactured homes.
“The manufactured housing industry is a strategic priority for Invesco Real Estate given it is a niche asset class with a strong track record of net operating income resiliency amidst market volatility,” Bert Crouch, Head of North America at Invesco real Estate, said in a statement.
“As part of our broader strategic initiative around vertically integrating operating companies in our highest conviction strategies, we believe Homestead Communities will allow us to capitalize on secular tailwinds and achieve operational efficiencies.” Crouch added.
Invesco Real Estate said that the Homestead Communities platform strengthens its commitment to the growing manufactured housing sector and enhances its speed to market, scale, and performance across markets nationally, the company said.
‘Manufactured homes does well in good times and even better in bad’
According to a recent industry outlook piece in Multi-Housing News, the manufactured housing industry has been on an upward trajectory in the past decade. Drawn by strong and stable income from manufactured home communities, an increasing number of institutional investors and owner operations have been diving into the segment.
In the publication, Kevan Enger, partner and manufactured housing director at Capstone Cos., noted that “mobile home parks are historically a recession proof asset due to the shortage of affordable housing across the country. It does well in good times and even better in bad times when there is more demand for cheaper housing options.”
The publication noted rising interest rates had a negative impact on investment volumes in the second half of 2022. Despite these challenges, the demand for manufactured homes is expected to continue to grow, especially in the Sun Belt and Southeast regions.
Affordable housing solution
The article also highlights that some city officials are looking at more of these projects as a way to mitigate the U.S. housing shortage as financing traditional housing development becomes increasingly difficult. The U.S. Census Bureau data shows that, as of May 2022, more than 50,000 manufactured homes were shipped across the country, marking a 31 percent year-over-year increase, the publication said.
