Sam Landy, president and CEO of UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE: UMH), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworld: 2018 Annual Conference in San Francisco.
Landy said the outlook for manufactured housing sector fundamentals in 2019 is even more bullish than for 2018. Laws that had prevented UMH from discussing monthly payments have changed, he noted. Meanwhile, “the product is phenomenal, and it gets better every year…customer acceptance is fantastic… [and] everything we see indicates higher occupancy, higher sales, and more acceptance of the product.”
Meanwhile, the acquisition environment remains “tough,” Landy said, as more players try to enter the market. However, UMH benefits from its focus on turnaround communities where there is less acquisition activity, he noted. Furthermore, most sellers in that market segment approach UMH first, he added.
Landy also noted that UMH is interested in expanding into the South, in areas where wages and populations are growing, and where there are turnaround communities available for sale.