Manufactured home estates as retirement living in Australia, identifying the key drivers

Manufactured Home Estates (MHEs) have become increasingly popular in Australia as a retirement housing option and in response, large investor-operators have entered the industry accumulating extensive portfolios. MHEs are appealing to investors as they require lower levels of capital investment compared to other forms of retirement housing and are supported by policy settings which maximise financial returns. The financial and regulatory environment in Australia has resulted in an investment structure where investors are required to act as operators. This paper identifies and examines five interconnected drivers which have encouraged investor-operators to commence MHEs and accumulate large portfolios. First, Australia’s ageing population emerges as a key driver of demand for retirement housing. Second, MHEs represent affordable housing for retirees. Third, broader housing policy providing support to low-income households improves financial returns to investor-operators. Fourth, investor-operator financial returns are improved by the requirement that residents purchase their dwellings through designated suppliers on which a fee is received. Fifth, the investment potential of MHE is linked to planning policies which permit their development on sites outside established residential areas, sometimes creating problems by locating older Australians in hazard affected locations. This paper provides important insights into contemporary analysis of seniors housing in Australia by outlining how policy settings have encouraged investor-operators to purchase and develop of MHEs and how, drawing on scholarship of the financialisation of housing, the investment logics of owner-investors situates MHEs as financial asset, not simply as affordable retirement housing.