Manufactured Housing Community Feasibility Study: Lot Rent, Occupancy, Homes and Financing

A manufactured housing community feasibility study tells a lender whether one specific land-lease community, on one specific site, can fill its home sites at supportable lot rents, keep them filled, and pay its operating costs and its debt at the coverage the capital source requires. It answers with evidence from the community's own market area, because a community competes with the next park, the nearest apartments and the cheapest houses for sale nearby.

Five facts frame almost every manufactured housing community loan file today:

• New homes are still being built in volume. Factories shipped 102,738 new manufactured homes in 2025 [1], and 70,700 new homes were placed for residential use [2].
• Only about a quarter of new homes go into land-lease communities. In 2025, 18,700 of those placements, or 26.4%, were in a land-leased or manufactured home community; most of the rest went onto other private property [2].
• The home is cheap to build and the land is the scarce part. A new manufactured home cost an average of $84.45 per square foot in 2024, against $168.86 per square foot for the structure of a new site-built home, before land [3].
• The existing stock is large and aging. The 2025 American Community Survey counted 7,829,574 mobile homes, 5.3% of all housing units in the United States [4], and 21.0% of owner-occupied mobile homes and similar units were built before 1980 [5].
• Some familiar loan programs are closed to the asset. SBA's current SOP says plainly that "mobile home parks are not eligible" [6], and USDA's Business and Industry guarantee lists residential trailer parks among ineligible projects [7]. The agency programs that do lend on communities ask for tenant protections and limit how many homes the owner may rent out [8][9].

Every study ends in one of three conclusions: feasible as proposed; feasible with stated conditions, such as a smaller loan, a slower fill schedule, fewer park-owned homes, a utility or flood fix, or a lower lot rent; or not feasible as proposed, with the changes that would make it work. For the transient-stay version of the same land use, see the RV park feasibility study; for the rental housing that competes with a community for the same households, see the multifamily feasibility study; and for how a lender's file uses any feasibility study, see what a bankable feasibility study is.

What is a manufactured housing community feasibility study?

It is an independent analysis, written for a lender's file, of whether a proposed, expanding or existing land-lease community can support its financing. A land-lease community, often still called a mobile home park, rents home sites (pads or lots) to residents who usually own their homes. FHFA's rules define a manufactured housing community as "a tract of land under unified ownership and developed for the purposes of providing individual rental spaces for the placement of manufactured homes" [10]. The homes themselves are defined by HUD: a manufactured home is a structure built on a permanent chassis, transportable in one or more sections, "which in the traveling mode is 8 body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length or which when erected on-site is 320 or more square feet" [11].

The study covers two businesses: the land business (site demand, lot rent, fill-up and retention) and, in many communities, a home business that buys homes, sets them on vacant sites and sells or rents them. The two carry different risks, expenses and lender treatment.

A market study answers only the demand question; a feasibility study carries it through the budget, the operating statement and debt coverage to a stated conclusion. Neither is an appraisal. Federal banking rules require an appraisal by a state certified appraiser for federally related commercial real estate transactions above $500,000 and for all such transactions of $1,000,000 or more [12]. The feasibility study holds no opinion of value; where the lender needs one, it comes from a separately engaged appraiser. For the full comparison, see feasibility study versus appraisal and feasibility study versus business plan.

Exhibit 1. Market study, feasibility study and appraisal compared for a land-lease community

Source: 12 CFR 34.43 [12]; 24 CFR 3280.2 [11]; 12 CFR 1282.1 [10]. Comparison by FSC.

What does a lender need the study to prove?

A lender needs proof that the community's cash flow covers its debt with a margin, under conditions the lender can test. That splits into seven questions, each answered with evidence a credit officer can check. The debt service coverage guide explains the coverage arithmetic, and the lender requirements guide explains what federal banking rules expect of the lender's own file.

Exhibit 2. What the lender asks and where the study answers it

Source: Freddie Mac MHC term sheet [8]; 12 CFR 1282.33 [9]; 44 CFR 60.3 [13]; 40 CFR 141.2 [14]. Framework by FSC.

How is a manufactured housing community different from an RV park, an apartment complex or a subdivision?

A manufactured housing community rents land for year-round homes that residents usually own; an RV park rents short stays; an apartment complex rents finished units; and a subdivision sells lots. The difference decides which construction code applies, how floodplain rules treat the site and which loan programs will look at the deal.

The construction code is the clearest line. HUD's definition of a manufactured home "does not include any self-propelled recreational vehicle" [11], and FEMA's floodplain rules likewise state that a manufactured home "does not include a recreational vehicle" [15]. Lending rules follow the same split. SBA's SOP treats recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds as eligible when "more than 50% of the business's revenue for the prior year is derived from transients who stay for 30 days or less," while mobile home parks are not eligible [6]. Freddie Mac's community loan excludes "RV campgrounds" [8]. A mixed property with long-term homes and RV sites has to be studied as two businesses.

Exhibit 3. Land-lease community, RV park, apartment complex and subdivision compared

Source: 24 CFR 3280.2 [11]; 44 CFR 59.1 [15]; SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 [6]; Freddie Mac MHC term sheet [8].

Apartments serve many of the same households, but a community resident has bought a home, and moving it costs far more than moving out of an apartment. Occupied sites are therefore sticky once filled and slow to fill, because every new resident must find, buy and set a home. A community study should always compare the total monthly cost of a community home with the rent for a comparable apartment.

How large is the manufactured housing stock, and who lives in it?

The United States had 7,829,574 mobile homes in 2025, 5.3% of its 148,228,967 housing units, according to the American Community Survey [4]. Of the occupied ones, 4,893,543 were owner-occupied and 1,649,176 renter-occupied, so about one in four occupied mobile homes (25.2%) was rented [16]. The median value of an owner-occupied mobile home was $87,100 [17].

These counts cover every mobile home, in or out of a community; the survey does not say which. They still size the pool of likely residents, show how much of the stock is due for replacement, and show where renting a manufactured home is common.

Exhibit 4. The national mobile home stock at a glance, 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year, Tables B25024, B25032, B25083, B25136 and B25150 [4][16][17][18][19]. Shares calculated by FSC.

Who are the households?

Older households are a large part of the owner base. In 2025, 38.5% of owner households living in a mobile home, boat, RV or van were headed by someone 65 or older, against 35.8% of all owner households [20]. Renters in the same housing type were younger: 30.9% had a householder aged 15 to 34 and 17.7% one aged 65 or older [20]. The Census table groups boats, RVs and vans with mobile homes in this cross-tabulation, so the shares describe the broader category; mobile homes make up nearly all of it.

Exhibit 5. Age of householder in mobile homes and similar units, by tenure, 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2025 1-year, Table B25125 (mobile home, boat, RV, van lines) [20]. Shares calculated by FSC.

The split matters for a 55-and-older strategy, which must meet the federal 80% test described later, and for a rental home program, which leans on younger renters.

How old is the stock?

Most occupied mobile homes were built between 1980 and 1999, and about one in five owner-occupied units is older than that. Pre-1980 units made up 21.0% of owner-occupied and 27.4% of renter-occupied mobile homes and similar units in 2025 [5]. Only 5.9% of owner-occupied units were built in 2020 or later [5].

Exhibit 6. Year built of occupied mobile homes and similar units, by tenure, 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2025 1-year, Table B25127 (mobile home, boat, RV, van lines) [5]. Shares calculated by FSC.

An older home may be hard to finance, insure or resell in place, and can become an abandoned home the community must remove. Replacing older units with new ones is also how many acquisition plans add value; the study tests whether that is realistic locally.

How many sit vacant?

Mobile homes have a higher vacancy share than most housing types. In 2025, 1,286,855 mobile homes were vacant, equal to 16.4% of all mobile homes, against 8.1% for single-family detached houses and 12.3% for buildings with 10 or more units [18][4]. Census vacancy counts include seasonal homes and units held off the market, so a high county share can reflect retirees' winter homes as easily as abandoned units. The analyst reads the county figure, then checks the competing communities' own occupancy.

How many new homes are being placed, and how many go into land-lease communities?

About 70,000 new manufactured homes a year are now placed for residential use, and roughly a quarter of them go into land-lease communities. Placements rose from 44,100 in 2014 to 70,700 in 2025, a 60.3% increase, while shipments from factories rose from 64,331 to 102,738 [2][1]. Shipments run ahead of placements because homes shipped to retailers take time to sell and set, and some go to non-residential uses or out of the country. Through August 2026, factories had shipped 67,768 homes [1].

Exhibit 7. New manufactured homes shipped and placed, 2014 to 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufactured Housing Survey, annual shipments to states (shipment counts compiled by the Institute for Building Technology and Safety) and selected characteristics of new homes placed [1][2].

In 2024 manufactured homes were 9% of new single-family starts plus manufactured home shipments combined [3]. For the study, what matters is how many new homes reach the county, how many go into communities, and whether local retailers can deliver them fast enough.

Where do new homes go?

Since 2021 the Census Bureau has asked where each new home is placed. In 2025, 18,700 new homes went into a land-leased or manufactured home community, 7,800 onto private property in a subdivision or planned unit development, and 43,700 onto other private property [2]. The land-lease share fell from 36.0% in 2022 to 26.4% in 2025 [2]. Single-section homes made up 60.4% of community placements in 2025, against 40.3% of all placements [2], because narrower homes fit the site sizes of most existing communities.

Exhibit 8. New homes placed by location, 2021 to 2025 (thousands)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufactured Housing Survey, selected characteristics of new homes placed [2]; the Census cost and size comparison table publishes the same land-lease shares for 2021 to 2024 [3]. Shares for 2025 calculated by FSC. A small number of homes placed "somewhere else" are not shown.

The regional pattern is sharp. The Midwest placed 7,700 homes in land-lease communities in 2025, 68.1% of its new homes and 41.2% of all community placements nationally [2]. The South placed far more homes in total, 45,500, but only 11.9% of them went into communities [2]. A study in the South should therefore expect most new-home demand to be for homes on owned land, and must show why buyers would choose a leased site instead. A study in the Midwest or Northeast starts from a market where communities are the usual place for a new home.

Exhibit 9. Land-lease community placements by region, 2021 and 2025 (thousands)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufactured Housing Survey, selected characteristics by region [2]. Shares calculated by FSC.

What do new manufactured homes cost compared with site-built homes?

A new manufactured home sold for an average of $127,200 in 2025: $85,600 for a single-section home and $157,100 for a double-section home [21]. The average new home had 1,471 square feet [22]. Prices rose 55.3% from 2019, when the average was $81,900 [21].

The cost advantage over site-built housing is large and steady. In 2024, a new manufactured home cost $84.45 per square foot, while the structure of a new single-family site-built home cost $168.86 per square foot excluding land, so the manufactured home cost 50.0% as much per square foot [3]. The site-built home also carried a derived average land price of $108,561 [3]. A land-lease community's whole proposition rests on that gap: the resident buys the home and rents the land, so the monthly cost of a new home on a leased site can sit well below the cost of a new house and lot.

Exhibit 10. New manufactured homes compared with new site-built homes, 2019 to 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, cost and size comparisons, 2014 to 2024 [3]; 2025 price and square feet from the Manufactured Housing Survey [21][22]. Share calculated by FSC. The 2025 site-built comparison had not been published in the saved table.

The national price is a starting point. The study prices the delivered, set and finished cost of the homes the community will attract in that county, including transport, piers, anchoring, hookups and skirting.

How are new homes titled?

Most new manufactured homes are still titled as personal property, not real estate. In 2025, 50,900 of 70,700 new homes placed (72.0%) were titled as personal property and 15,600 (22.1%) as real estate [2]. Homes in land-lease communities are generally personal property because the resident does not own the land under them, and that is why most community residents finance a home, if they finance it at all, with a chattel loan rather than a mortgage.

Exhibit 11. Title status and lease status of new homes placed, 2021 to 2025 (thousands)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufactured Housing Survey, selected characteristics [2]. Shares calculated by FSC. "Leased or intended for lease" adds the survey's leased and intended-for-lease counts.

The lease columns matter for the home-ownership question discussed below. Only a few thousand new homes a year are leased or held for lease rather than sold [2], so a community that plans to fill most of its vacant sites with homes it owns and rents out is running against the national pattern, and against agency lending limits.

How is demand for home sites measured?

Demand for sites is measured household by household in a defined market area, not with a national ratio of sites per person. The study starts by drawing the primary market area: the towns and rural tracts from which most residents of the subject and its competitors come. Because moving a home is costly and most residents stay near work, family and services, that area is usually tighter than an apartment market area and follows commuting roads, school districts and county lines.

Within that area the study builds demand in layers, each tied to a published series or to the competitive survey (Exhibit 12): households already living in manufactured homes, replacement demand from older homes, the flow of new homes into the state and region, households whose income and age fit the community, and the vacant and planned sites at competing communities. The income screen uses the total monthly cost of a community home (lot rent plus home payment, utilities, insurance and taxes) at a stated cost-to-income ratio, which is an assumption and is labeled as one.

The result is expressed two ways. The capture rate is the share of qualified households in the market area that the subject's vacant sites would need to attract. The penetration rate is the share of qualified households that all community sites in the market, including the subject, would absorb. A study shows both and explains whether they are reasonable for the location, rather than applying a fixed ceiling.

Exhibit 12. Demand screens and the data behind each

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2025 1-year and Manufactured Housing Survey, as cited in each row. Method by FSC.

The study also scores the site on what residents weigh: commute times, access to shopping, schools and health care, the look of the entrance and streets, site size (which decides whether a multi-section home fits) and the reputation of management.

How are supply, occupancy and saturation tested?

Supply is tested by surveying every competing community and rental option in the market area; with no national registry of community occupancy or lot rents, that survey is the study's key original evidence. Where a state licenses parks, its licence list is a useful starting point.

For each community the survey records total, occupied and vacant sites; lot rent by site type and what it includes; recent rent increases; the share of community-owned homes and their rents; home age, site size and street and utility condition; whether it is all-ages or 55 and older; and any expansion plans.

Saturation is not a single number, because a site in a poorly kept park does not substitute for one in a well-kept park. The study measures occupancy within the subject's quality and price tier, checks the county mobile home vacancy share [18], and, for a new community, compares it with low-cost houses and apartments.

How is achievable lot rent set?

Achievable lot rent is set from the lot rents comparable communities actually collect, adjusted for location, site size, amenities, inclusions and home quality, then checked against the total monthly cost of living in a community home.

There is no published federal series of manufactured home lot rents by county. The ACS counts and values mobile homes but does not publish site rent in its standard tables [23], so the study relies on the competitive survey and on rent rolls. The survey's quality is therefore the main credit risk in the rent conclusion, and a lender should expect to see, for each comparable, the date of contact, what the rent includes and how adjustments were made. The total cost comparison then adds the resident's home payment or home rent, utilities the lease does not include, home insurance and personal property tax, and sets the total beside the rent for a comparable apartment.

What limits lot rent increases?

State law sets the pace at which lot rents can rise, and the study models increases at or below what the law allows. Oregon, for example, caps annual increases in facilities with more than 30 spaces at six percent [24]; New York presumes increases above three percent challengeable and caps them at six percent absent court approval of a hardship application [25]; Delaware ties increases to a formula of 3.5% of rent plus half of the 24-month CPI-U, with a ceiling of 6.1% when inflation is moderate [26]. Many other states set no cap but require long notice: Florida requires 90 days' notice [27] and Minnesota 60 days [28]. The state section below sets out eight states in detail. A pro forma that assumes rent growth above a state cap is not feasible as written.

Should the community own homes or rent only sites?

A sites-only community has lower expense and turnover; a community that owns and rents homes fills faster but takes on home repairs, turnover and lender limits. The study models both.

Agency lending limits make this a credit question, not just an operating choice. Freddie Mac's community loan term sheet says "The percentage of homes owned by a borrower affiliate or third-party investor cannot exceed 25% in aggregate" and that "Retail sales or financing by borrowing entity of any manufactured homes is not allowed" [8]. Its resident-owned community loan caps the same share at 5% [29]. A business plan that fills half the vacant sites with community-owned rental homes may work financially and still not fit those programs, and the study says so.

Exhibit 13. Resident-owned homes compared with community-owned rental homes

Source: Freddie Mac MHC and MHROC term sheets [8][29]. Comparison by FSC.

Where a home program sells homes to residents, the study separates lot rent, which the loan relies on, from one-time home sale margins and any note income. Resident financing matters too. FHA's Title I program can insure loans on a home placed "on a leased site in a manufactured home park," but only after the lender obtains official certification that the park meets standards for "vehicular access, water supply, sewage disposal, utility connections" [30]. A community whose infrastructure cannot pass that test narrows its residents' financing options.

How fast will a new or expanded community fill?

A new or expanded community fills one home at a time, so absorption depends as much on home supply and resident financing as on demand: each resident must choose and finance a home, then wait while it is delivered, set, anchored and connected.

The study sets the fill schedule from four kinds of evidence: the fill histories of comparable new communities and expansions in the region; the number of new homes reaching the county each year [1]; retailer inventory and delivery lead times, where the national data give a rough signal (of the 6,800 homes shipped in December 2025, 2,000 were still intended for sale or lease and not yet placed when the survey reported) [31]; and the community's own plan for buying homes. The schedule is shown month by month, and debt service in the early months is covered by an interest reserve, an operating reserve or sponsor support that the study sizes.

Expansions usually fill faster than new communities, but the study still checks site sizes, utility capacity and state plan approval.

What infrastructure and site costs shape the budget?

Streets, utilities, stormwater, pads and the water and sewer systems are the largest costs in a new community and the largest hidden liabilities in an old one, and the lot rent has to pay for all of them over time.

Water and wastewater deserve particular care, because many communities are not on public systems. Nationally, 49.9% of mobile homes were served by a septic tank in 2025 and 46.7% by a public sewer, against 26.0% and 72.9% for single-family detached homes [19]. A community with its own wastewater plant or a large shared septic field carries permit, operator, testing and replacement obligations that a sewered community does not.

Exhibit 14. Sewer service by structure type, 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2025 1-year, Table B25150 [19]. Shares calculated by FSC.

A community's own water system may also be a regulated public water system. EPA's drinking water rules define a community water system as one that "serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents" [14]. Most land-lease communities with their own wells pass that threshold, which brings monitoring, reporting, certified operator and treatment duties under state primacy programs. Freddie Mac allows private wells and septic systems "with considerations" [8], which in practice means the lender will want engineering and compliance evidence. The study budgets for that evidence and for any upgrade the engineer finds.

How are homes set and secured?

How homes are set matters for both cost and risk. Of the 70,700 new homes placed in 2025, 47,100 were secured with anchors and tie-down straps and 13,800 sat on a permanent masonry or concrete foundation [2]. Concrete footings were the most common footing type [2]. HUD's installation standards require footings on undisturbed soil "or fill compacted to 90 percent of maximum relative density," and allow "Six inch minimum poured-in-place concrete pads, slabs, or ribbons with at least a 28-day compressive strength of 3,000 pounds per square inch" among the approved footing types [32].

Exhibit 15. How new homes were supported and secured, 2025 (thousands)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufactured Housing Survey, selected characteristics, 2025 [2]. Footing and securing categories overlap because the survey asks about each separately.

Which federal construction and installation rules apply to the homes?

The homes are built to HUD's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards in 24 CFR Part 3280, the HUD Code, and installed under HUD's model installation standards in Part 3285 or a state program that meets them. The HUD Code is a national code. Each transportable section carries a certification label [11], and each home carries a data plate that records, among other things, the roof load zone and wind load zone it was designed for [33].

Three design zones matter to a community study, because they decide which homes may be placed on its sites. The wind zone sets structural loads: homes outside high-wind areas are designed for "horizontal wind loads of not less than 15 psf and a net uplift roof load of not less than 9 psf," while Wind Zone II and III homes are engineered for design wind speeds of 100 and 110 miles per hour [34]. The roof load zone sets snow loads, and the thermal zone sets the maximum heat transmission of the home's envelope [34][35]. A community in a Wind Zone III county, such as the Florida counties of Broward, Collier, Lee or Monroe listed in the rule, can only accept homes built for that zone [34], which narrows the home supply and raises home prices. The data plate also warns that a home not designed for coastal exposure "should not be located within 1500" feet of the coastline in Wind Zones II and III [33].

Exhibit 16. HUD Code design zones that limit which homes a community can accept

Source: 24 CFR 3280.305 and 3280.506, revised as of 1 April 2025 [34][35].

Installation is a separate regime. HUD's installation program in Part 3286 has been in effect since October 20, 2008 [36], and "In states that do not choose to operate their own installation program for manufactured homes, these Model Installation Standards serve as the minimum standards" [37]. The study confirms which regime applies and whether pads, piers and anchors meet it.

How do flood, water and wastewater rules affect a community?

Flood rules can change both the cost of new sites and the rules for replacing homes on old ones. FEMA defines a manufactured home park or subdivision as "a parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale" [15], so almost every land-lease community falls under the floodplain management rules a participating community must adopt. Those rules distinguish existing parks, new parks and expansions by the date the lots' utilities, streets and pads were built compared with the date the local floodplain regulations took effect [15].

Exhibit 17. Federal floodplain rules for manufactured homes and parks

Source: 44 CFR 60.3 and 59.1, revised as of 1 October 2025 [13][15].

The study counts sites in a special flood hazard area, prices elevating replacement homes on them, and shows the effect if some sites must come out of the rent roll.

Which capital sources finance manufactured housing communities, and what does each test?

Stabilized communities are financed by the two government-sponsored Enterprises' multifamily programs, by banks and credit unions and by other institutional lenders; new construction and lease-up usually rely on bank loans and sponsor equity. Each reads the study for a different test; the conventional loan programs guide covers bank terms.

Exhibit 18. Capital sources and what each reads in the study

Source: Freddie Mac MHC and MHROC term sheets [8][29]; 12 CFR 1282.33 [9]; 24 CFR 207.1 [38]; SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 [6]; 7 CFR 5001.118 [7]; 24 CFR 201.10 and 201.21 [39][30].

The Freddie Mac community loan also requires a sponsor with "two or more years of experience in operating MHCs," a minimum replacement reserve of $50 per site per year, and says "Leases cannot contain options to purchase pad site" [8]. It waives the refinance test where the loan has an amortizing coverage ratio of 1.40x or more and a loan-to-value of 60% or less [8].

Exhibit 19. Freddie Mac community and resident-owned community loan terms

Source: Freddie Mac Multifamily, Optigo Manufactured Housing Community Loan and Manufactured Housing Resident Owned Community Loan term sheets [8][29]. Terms are subject to change without notice.

Can SBA or USDA finance a manufactured housing community?

No. SBA's SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026, states that "Apartment buildings and mobile home parks are not eligible," alongside the broader rule that "Businesses that are primarily engaged in owning or purchasing real estate and leasing it for any purpose are not eligible" [6]. The regulation behind it makes passive businesses "owned by developers and landlords that do not actively use or occupy the assets acquired or improved with the loan proceeds" ineligible [40]. The Eligible Passive Company exception does not help, because it requires the property to be leased to an operating company "for conducting the Operating Company's business" [41], and a community's residents are households, not operating businesses. The SBA loan programs guide and the SOP 50 10 8.1 update cover the program generally.

The same SOP makes RV parks and campgrounds eligible where more than 50% of revenue comes from guests staying 30 days or less [6], so an RV section run as a genuinely separate business may qualify on its own.

USDA's Business and Industry guarantee is closed to the asset as well: its ineligible projects include "The financing of timeshares, residential trailer parks, apartments, duplexes, or other residential housing" where independent housing is the primary purpose [7]. USDA's single-family programs can finance a resident's manufactured home only "when a real estate mortgage covers both the unit and the site" [42][43], which rules out homes on leased community sites. The USDA loan programs guide covers the business programs generally.

What does FHA Title I offer residents?

FHA's Title I program insures loans to residents for a home, a lot or both, and its limits shape what residents can borrow. The rules allow a manufactured home loan term of up to 20 years and 32 days, a lot loan of up to 15 years and 32 days, and a multi-module home and lot combination of up to 25 years and 32 days [44]. Lot loans are capped at 95 percent of the developed lot's appraised value or cost [39].

Exhibit 20. FHA Title I manufactured home loan rules that affect a community

Source: 24 CFR 201.10, 201.11 and 201.21, revised as of 1 April 2025 [39][44][30].

What tenant protections do lenders and regulators look for?

Lenders and FHFA look for eight pad lease protections, and communities that adopt them get better access to agency credit. FHFA's Duty to Serve rule gives the Enterprises credit for financing "Manufactured housing communities with pad leases" that carry at least these protections, or that sit in states whose laws require equal or stronger ones [9]. Freddie Mac writes the same eight into its community loan and requires them in leases within 12 months of closing [8].

Exhibit 21. The eight pad lease protections

Source: 12 CFR 1282.33(c)(4) [9]; Freddie Mac MHC term sheet, MHC Tenant Protections [8].

The protections limit how quickly an owner can reposition a community, and they open agency credit. The study states which ones the current leases contain and what adopting the rest would cost in flexibility.

How do state lot-rent and landlord-tenant laws change the model?

State law sets rent increase notice, any cap, change-of-use timing and any resident right to buy. The study reads the subject state's statute in full; eight states show how widely the rules differ.

Exhibit 22. Selected state rules for manufactured home communities

Source: state statutes as cited in each cell, read on the state legislature's own site. "No cap in the sections read" means the sections fetched for this page set none; the study reads the full statute and any local ordinance for the subject.

Rent caps, as in Oregon, New York and Delaware, put a ceiling on NOI growth; long notice periods delay every increase; and sale-notice and first-refusal laws, as in Florida, Massachusetts and Virginia, add time to an acquisition closing.

Are 55-and-older communities treated differently?

Yes. A community may restrict residency to older households only if it qualifies under the Fair Housing Act's housing-for-older-persons exemption, and the federal rule names mobile home parks and manufactured housing communities among the housing that may qualify [53]. The core test is occupancy: "at least 80 percent of its occupied units must be occupied by at least one person 55 years of age or older" [54].

Exhibit 23. Federal rules for 55-and-older manufactured housing communities

Source: 24 CFR 100.304 and 100.305, revised as of 1 April 2025 [53][54].

Age restriction narrows the demand pool to older households (Exhibit 5). On the lending side, Freddie Mac's community loan accepts communities "with or without age restrictions" while excluding seniors housing properties [8]. A community converting to 55 and older needs a transition plan that complies with the rule and a fill schedule that accounts for the narrower pool.

How are income, expenses, NOI and debt coverage tested?

The study builds a month-by-month operating statement through fill-up and a stabilized year, then divides net operating income by annual debt service to get the coverage ratio the lender tests.

Lot rent is set at or below what state law lets it grow [24][25][26]; home rent is limited to homes within lender limits [8]; utility reimbursements appear only where the lease and state law allow them; utility system costs reflect the water system's regulatory status [14]; and the replacement reserve is at or above the lender's minimum, which is $50 per site per year under the Freddie Mac community loan [8].

The lender's coverage threshold is the bar. Freddie Mac's community loan sets a minimum amortizing coverage of 1.25x [8]; bank lenders set their own. The study shows coverage at stabilization, in each year of fill-up, and under stress, and it states the largest loan the projected NOI supports at the threshold. Model inputs such as expense ratios, reserve levels and rate assumptions are labeled as assumptions; the coverage results are the model's results, not market facts.

The calculator below tests one thing: whether a given site count, occupancy, lot rent and home-ownership mix produce enough NOI to cover a given loan at a target coverage ratio. It splits occupied sites into those with resident-owned homes, which pay lot rent only, and those with community-owned rental homes, which pay lot rent plus a home rent and carry an added home expense. Its default inputs are illustrative, not market figures, and its result is not a feasibility conclusion. With the defaults, the model gives the result below.

Exhibit 24. Calculator with illustrative default inputs

Source: FSC model. All inputs are illustrative assumptions (120 sites, 90% occupancy, $550 lot rent, 15% of occupied sites with community-owned homes renting for $450 more, $25 other income per occupied site, 2% collection loss, $1,500 site expense per site, $1,000 per community-owned home, 5% management, $100 reserve per site, a $5,750,000 loan at 6.5% over 30 years, 1.25x target); outputs are model results.

The sensitivity grid shows how much the result depends on two inputs the study must defend, occupancy and lot rent, with every other input held at the illustrative defaults.

Exhibit 25. Coverage sensitivity to occupancy and lot rent (model output)

Source: FSC model, illustrative inputs as in Exhibit 24. Results are not market facts.

The home-ownership mix changes the result too. With the same illustrative inputs, raising the share of occupied sites that carry community-owned rental homes raises NOI and coverage, because home rent exceeds the added home expense in this example. But it also raises capital needs, turnover risk and, past 25% of homes, conflicts with the Freddie Mac community loan limit [8]. The study therefore shows the lender coverage both with and without the home program.

Exhibit 26. Coverage at different home-ownership mixes (model output)

Source: FSC model, illustrative inputs as in Exhibit 24, varying only the share of occupied sites with community-owned rental homes. Results are not market facts.

How does the study read an existing community for an acquisition or refinance?

For an existing community the study starts from the rent roll and the physical plant, and asks whether in-place income is real, durable and lawful. Rent rolls can overstate income through abandoned homes counted as occupied, community-owned homes carried as resident-owned, or utility charges and rent increases state law does not allow.

The acquisition checklist reconciles the rent roll to leases and home titles; counts community-owned homes against lender limits [8]; reviews arrears and abandoned homes; compares the lease with the eight pad lease protections [9] and state law; benchmarks home ages against the local ACS year-built mix [5]; and checks utility permits [14], flood zones [13] and any state licence.

A refinance study tests whether operating history, reconciled to bank deposits, supports the new loan. A resident-owned purchase adds board capacity and reserve policy, which Freddie Mac's program addresses through its 90% resident shareholding and 5% home rental limits [29].

Where are new homes going, state by state?

New manufactured homes are concentrated in the South: Texas alone received 17,458 of the 102,738 homes shipped in 2025, and the ten largest states received 60.5% of the national total [1]. Several Southeastern states saw shipments rise by more than a quarter between 2019 and 2025 [1]. Because most Southern placements go onto private land rather than into communities [2], a high state shipment count does not by itself mean strong demand for community sites.

Exhibit 27. The ten states receiving the most new manufactured homes, 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufactured Housing Survey, annual shipments to states [1]; mobile home share from ACS 2025 1-year Table B25024 [4]. Changes and shares calculated by FSC.

The 50-state table joins the ACS mobile home stock with new-home shipments and prices. It is a screening tool, not a market conclusion.

Exhibit 28. Manufactured housing by state: stock, tenure, value, new homes and prices

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2025 1-year Tables B25024, B25032 and B25083 [4][16][17]; Manufactured Housing Survey annual shipments to states and average sales price by state [1][21]. Shares calculated by FSC. "n/a" means the Census Bureau did not publish the value (suppressed, withheld or not applicable). The United States shipment total may include homes shipped to Canada or Puerto Rico.

What must a manufactured housing community feasibility study contain?

A lender-ready study contains a stated conclusion and the evidence behind it, documented so a reviewer can trace every number to its source.

Exhibit 29. Contents of a lender-ready study

Source: FSC scope of work, drawing on the rules cited in this page [34][13][14][9][54].

What does a manufactured housing community feasibility study not replace?

It does not replace the appraisal, the engineering report, the environmental report or legal review. The appraisal gives the value a loan-to-value test needs, and federal rules decide when a certified appraiser must prepare it [12]. A civil or environmental engineer must confirm the condition and remaining life of roads, water and sewer systems, and a Phase I environmental site assessment covers contamination risk. An attorney confirms that the lease form, rules and any planned rent increases comply with state law. The feasibility study relies on those reports where they exist, names any it has not seen, and states how its conclusion depends on them.

What happens after the loan closes?

The study's projections become the yardstick for monitoring. Lenders commonly compare quarterly rent rolls and operating statements with the projected fill schedule, lot rent, community-owned home count and coverage, and ask for an update when occupancy, arrears or the home count drift from plan, or when a state changes its rent rules. A study that states its assumptions plainly makes that comparison simple.

How much does a manufactured housing community feasibility study cost, and how long does it take?

Cost and timeline depend on scope, so this section describes scope and deliverables only. A refinance of a stabilized community is the narrowest: rent roll and history review, competitive survey, state law review and coverage testing. An acquisition adds the home-title, arrears and abandoned-home review and a value-add plan tested against state rent limits. A new community or major expansion adds the full demand model, fill schedule, infrastructure review and development budget. Each study is a written report with exhibits, the operating model and a source list. For a quote and schedule on a specific community, see about the firm.

How the study runs

1. Scoping. The lender's requirements, the capital source and the questions the study must answer are set at the start.
2. Document review. Site plan, rent roll, leases, home titles, operating statements, utility permits and any engineering or environmental reports.
3. Site visit. The community, its homes, roads and utilities, and every competing community in the market area.
4. Data and rules. Census, HUD, FEMA, EPA and state data and statutes for the subject's state and county.
5. Model and conclusion. Demand, lot rent, fill schedule, home program, operating projections and coverage, ending in one of the three conclusions.
6. Review and delivery. Every figure checked against its source before the report is signed by Sarrah Allen, MAI.

For other asset types, see all asset classes.

Download the evidence behind this page's exhibits (CSV, 897 data points with sources)