👋👋 Good morning real estate watchers! Today, we are going to talk about the rise of the RV park asset. Honestly, it’s the most American thing imaginable: take something free (trees, dirt, sky) add Wi-Fi, a subscription model, and surge pricing… and suddenly Dad’s childhood camping trip is a luxury experience with a waitlist and a quarterly earnings call.

But first, here’s what we’ve been paying attention to this week…

1️⃣ Hype House? Despite splashy chatter about a massive rent-to-own push dubbed “Trump Homes,” builders say there’s no coordinated national program actually moving forward with the Donald Trump team or the White House. In other words, while policy talks exist and headlines fly (looking at you, Bloomberg), the supposed million-home master plan is still more PowerPoint than pavement. (HW)

2️⃣ Discount Season: Home values dipped for the sixth straight month while mortgage payments are down year over year, giving buyers a slightly friendlier shot at affordability, according to Zillow’s latest data. It’s less “housing crash” and more “housing clearance aisle,” with slower sales, longer listings, and cautious optimism that spring might finally wake the market up. (Zillow)

3️⃣ Gap Still Gaping: Young Black Americans are owning homes at roughly half the rate of their white peers, and that divide has actually widened recently as ownership edges up for white Gen Z and millennials but slips for Black households, according to Redfin’s analysis. Translation: while some young buyers are finally getting keys, the housing ladder still has a few rungs missing depending on who’s climbing. (Redfin)

4️⃣ Rate Regret: A fast-growing chunk of homeowners are now stuck with mortgage rates above 5% (and many over 6%), shrinking the pool who’d meaningfully benefit from refinancing even if rates dip, per ICE Mortgage Technology. So while politicians (hi Donald Trump) talk about pushing rates down, the reality is most owners would only save lunch-money levels each month, not life-changing cash. (CNBC)

5️⃣ Population Cooldown: U.S. population growth slowed sharply in 2025 as immigration dropped by more than half while births minus deaths stayed mostly flat, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The South kept leading the growth parade (hey Texas and Florida), but nationally the vibe shifted from boomtown to “we’ll grow… just not in a hurry.” (NAHB)

TOP STORY

Somewhere in Moab, Utah, a 42-year-old private equity analyst is sipping craft coffee outside his $180,000 motorhome, scrolling Slack on campground wi-fi, while his kids play pickleball fifty yards away. His father, who camped in a canvas tent held together by optimism and duct tape, would not recognize this version of "roughing it."

But then again, his father wasn't the target demographic anymore.

Here's a stat that should make you do a double-take: the median age of RV owners has dropped from 53 to 49 since 2021.

That's not a rounding error, that's a generational shift compressed into three years. According to Ipsos research for the RV Industry Association, 46% of current owners now fall in the 35-54 sweet spot, and more of them are earning six figures than ever before.

First-time owners? They now represent 36% of the market.

Translation: camping has been gentrified, and the numbers prove it.

But then you have to ask yourself: What exactly are these younger, wealthier buyers actually buying into?

The amenity creep in RV parks has gone from absurd to genuinely impressive. We're talking movie theaters. Tennis and basketball courts. Libraries. Banquet halls. Swimming pools, hiking trails, boat rentals; and yes, the pickleball courts that have apparently colonized every recreational space in America like some sort of sporty invasive species.

This isn't your grandfather's KOA with a suspicious shower block and a vending machine that only accepts quarters.

"The RV space has become more sophisticated," says Dirk Aulabaugh, executive vice president and global head of advisory services at Green Street. "RVs have gotten bigger and more luxurious, and more people than ever before are open to that type of travel."

Aulabaugh has noticed something telling in his professional circles: his finance colleagues (people with the means to fly anywhere) are increasingly opting for extended RV trips rather than European vacations.

Nothing says “rugged outdoor adventure” like a private equity guy in moisture-wicking athleisure, “roughing it” between a spa-grade shower block and a wine fridge that has better temperature control than his kid’s emotional development.

When the hedge fund crowd trades Tuscany for a trailer park (albeit one with artisanal amenities), something fundamental has shifted.

But then here's where it gets interesting for anyone watching real estate from an investment lens.

Two publicly traded REITs have positioned themselves at the center of this transformation: Sun Communities (NYSE: SUI) and Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE: ELS). Their RV divisions now contribute roughly 30% of company rental revenue…not a side hustle, a pillar.

The scale is staggering. Equity LifeStyle operates more than 90,000 RV sites across 200-plus campgrounds in the U.S. and Canada. Sun Communities, through its Sun Outdoors brand, owns and operates 57,000 sites across 166 locations.

And the rent growth? Sticky.

Equity LifeStyle has already locked in 2026 rates for more than 95% of its annual RV sites, with an average increase of 5.1%. Sun Communities is targeting around 4%. In an environment where landlords across other asset classes are sweating over occupancy and concessions, these operators are raising rents and filling sites.

During Q3 2025, Equity LifeStyle filled approximately 475 annual RV sites; a figure CEO Marguerite Nader described as "a very high watermark for us." Sun Communities President John McLaren emphasized retention as the real engine: "The experience that our guests have at the properties frankly is far more valuable than anything we can do from an external marketing perspective."

But then you realize what's actually being sold here isn't a campsite. It's a lifestyle subscription.

Equity LifeStyle's Thousand Trails membership program lets subscribers hop between campgrounds for stays of 14 days or longer. It's essentially the Soho House model for people who prefer s'mores over bottle service; recurring revenue from customers who've bought into an identity, not just a transaction.

The pandemic accelerated this. COVID turned "getting away from it all" from a cliché into a survival strategy, and a significant cohort of Americans discovered that "away" didn't require a passport. They just needed a vehicle, a destination, and a hookup (the electrical kind).

What the REITs figured out is that these weren't tourists. They were converts. And converts pay annual dues.

The locations help, of course. These aren't properties wedged between a highway exit and a truck stop. We're talking mountain, desert, coastal, lakeside, and national park adjacency; the kind of geography that appreciates in desirability while supply remains naturally constrained. Try getting a zoning permit to build a competing resort next to Arches National Park. Exactly.

For real estate professionals, the RV resort play offers a few lessons worth noting:

Experience is the amenity. The arms race isn't about square footage; it's about programming. Movie nights, pickleball leagues, and community events create stickiness that rent concessions never will.

Demographics shift faster than you think. Five years ago, RV parks weren't on most investors' radar. Today, they're institutional-grade assets with enviable rent growth. What's the next "unsexy" asset class waiting to get discovered?

Weather is a feature, not a bug. Equity LifeStyle's COO Patrick Waite noted that this winter's forecast (warmer and drier in the South, colder in the North) makes Sun Belt locations "particularly attractive for winter getaways." Seasonal demand patterns are baked into the business model, not fought against.

But then maybe the biggest insight is the simplest one: Americans will pay a premium for the feeling of escape, especially when that escape comes with reliable wi-fi and a pickleball court.

Your dad's campground didn't die. It got a glow-up, a REIT sponsor, and a waitlist.