Manufactured Housing Community Feasibility Study in California

Second in the nation, but not a core California class

California ranks 2 of 47 states for manufactured housing community loans, yet the class sits near the bottom inside the state at 32 of 39, and its location quotient of 0.75x says communities make up less of California lending than of the national mix. Only 30 loans were approved from FY2017 to FY2026, worth $26.3 million. The state ranks high on the count of loans while the class stays a small part of its own mix.

The loan size is what differs

The median loan of $638,750 is 1.35x the class median nationwide, while the middle half of loans runs from $337,700 to $1.2 million. California communities are therefore financed with notably bigger checks than elsewhere. SBA 7(a) accounts for 29 of the loans and SBA 504 for a single one. The franchise share is 6.7%.

Geography and the year-by-year pattern

Los Angeles County is the centre of the record with 15 loans, followed by Shasta with 3 and Orange and San Diego with 2 each. Activity peaked in FY2021 at 9 loans and $12.4 million, and the more recent years are thin, with 1 loan in FY2024 and none recorded in FY2025 or FY2026. A newer project cannot lean on a recent run of precedents.

Cancellation floor and the shared code

Among FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, 10.0% at minimum were cancelled once approved, and counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled leaves the figure at 10.0%, so the floor and ceiling coincide. The charge-off rate is withheld since the cohort is thin, and it must not be read as zero. The coding limit matters here: manufactured home sites cannot be separated from other lessors in its shared code, which also holds land and real estate investment vehicles of other property types, so some of these loans may finance something other than a park.

What a California community study must test

A study of a manufactured housing community in California has to test the rent roll under flat and rising rents, the legal rules on park conversions, the condition of utilities and roads, and the mix of owner-occupied homes and park-owned homes. It also has to test the purchase price against a likely loan above the national norm, with coverage shown after any capital repairs. The appraisal rests on net income, so the study should show how the income was derived and what happens if rents stay flat.