YES Communities has bought a 541 homesite community — Lakeview Terrace — in Kansas City, Missouri. The purchase price was not disclosed.
YES, a real estate investment trust (REIT), is one of the largest owners and operators of manufactured housing communities in the country. With the acquisition, YES will have 56,557 home sites in 215 communities in 18 states, containing.
Manufactured housing shipments are on the rise as people look for affordable housing. Shipments in the U.S. have risen from about 50,000 units in 2010 to more than 92,000 in 2017, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The two largest makers of manufactured homes — Clayton Homes and Skyline-Champion Inc. — are owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
This is the second community in the Kansas City market for YES, according to Karen Hamilton, chief operating officer of YES Communities. ”This community fits well into the YES family by providing a low-cost housing solution with a wonderful sense of community.”
Its KC-area communities are Lakeview Terrace and Independence Station. YES Communities, based in Denver, Colorado, claims to be the largest private REIT in the manufactured housing industry.
Manufactured housing is housing that has had parts made and is assembled in a factory, and then transported to a site for use. In some cases, manufactured housing has been synonymous with mobile homes, although not all manufactured housing is “mobile,” in that they don’t have wheels.
Sale average sale price for new manufactured homes — often termed “double-wides” — was $91,400 in March 2018, according to Census Bureau data. For new single-family manufactured homes, which includes both site-built and modular homes, the average price hit $363,300 in June 2108.