Private equity park acquisitions spike eviction filings 40% within months

When private equity firms acquire mobile home parks, eviction filings increase by 40% in the months following the sale. This is not incidental — it is the business model. PE firms buy parks at low capitalization rates, aggressively raise rents and add new fees to increase net operating income, then flip the property within 3-5 years at a higher valuation. From 2010 to 2020, manufactured housing parks delivered a 22% annual compounded return — the highest of any real estate asset class. The residents who generate that return are among the lowest-income homeowners in America, with a median household income around $35,000. Twenty-three private equity firms now own over 1,800 parks nationally, and institutional investors accounted for 23% of all park purchases in 2020-2021, up from 13% just two years earlier. Residents report rent hikes as high as 100%, new junk fees for trash, water, and administrative costs, and deteriorating infrastructure. The structural reason this persists is that manufactured housing parks are a uniquely extractive asset class: the residents literally cannot leave because moving a home costs more than many can afford, giving the owner near-absolute pricing power over a captive customer base.