Markets
INVESTING IN MANUFACTURED HOUSING REITS by Alex Pettee
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The research team at Hoya Capital Real Estate is excited to continue our quarterly column published in partnership with MHInsider to provide insight and commentary on publicly-traded manufactured housing stocks. Every quarter, we’ll publish an update to discuss the stock performance, earnings results, and major news and events reported by manufactured housing real estate investment trusts, or MH REITs.
Overview of MH REITs There are three U.S. exchange-listed Manufactured Housing REITs which collectively account for roughly $35 billion in market value: Equity Lifestyle (ELS), Sun Communities (SUI), UMH Properties (UMH). Additionally, newly-listed Flagship Communities (FLGMP) trades on the Toronto Stock exchange.
56 | JULY / AUGUST 2021 EDITION
Manufactured Housing REITs collectively own roughly 350,000 manufactured housing and RV sites across the United States with a portfolio skewed towards higher-end communities with a more “retiree-oriented” demographic than the all-ages community. Through a series of acquisitions, Equity Lifestyle and Sun Communities have recently expanded into boat marinas as well, while the smaller UMH Properties and newly-listed Flagship Communities focus on traditional manufactured housing communities. Manufactured housing REITs have emerged over the past decade from relative obscurity into several of the largest publicly-traded owners of real estate in the world. Beneficiaries of the lingering housing shortage across the United States resulting from a decade of underbuilding, manufactured housing REITs have been the single-best
