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.

Bert Crouch

“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 a 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 growth markets nationally, the company said.

David Gold named as CEO for Homestead Communities

Manufactured housing industry veteran David Gold will serve as CEO for Homestead Communities.

Previously, he was CEO of Inspire Communities, one of the country’s largest owners and operators of manufactured housing communities, where he led the company’s growth through its sale to Apollo Global Management.

Gold also helped grow William E. Simon & Sons Realty into an institutional fund manager with more than $2 billion of AUM and co-led the firm’s launch in Latin America.

“Manufactured housing represents approximately 4% of all U.S. housing, and we believe Homestead Communities provides an opportunity to meaningfully meet the institutional demand we’re seeing in the sector,” Gold said in a statement.

Invesco Real Estate has $89.3 billion in real estate assets under management, 587 employees, and 21 regional offices across the U.S., Europe, and Asia as of Sept. 30.

‘It 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 homes communities, an increasing number of institutional investors and owner-operators 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.

The Manufactured Housing organization says that modular homes are already a part of the solution to the nation’s lack of affordable housing.

Havenpark Communities, another operator and developer of manufactured home communities, added 870 affordable homes across its portfolio last year, and intends to install another 800 in 2023, according to Multi-Housing News. “We are committed to being part of the solution to America’s acute housing affordability challenge by continuing to bring new housing supply to the communities we serve,” Havenpark Communities CEO & Co-Founder Robbie Pratt said in the publication. Havenpark Communities recently posted an opening for Regional Vice President in DFW on LinkedIn, but applications are now closed.

Dallas Innovates recently wrote about Dallas fintech Zippy, another company seeking to provide more affordable housing options, and their approach to digital lending for mobile homes.

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