Implode-o-Meter News - America's trailer parks: the residents may be poor but the owners are getting rich

Trailer parks are big and profitable business -- particularly after hundreds of thousands of Americans who lost their homes in the financial crisis created a huge demand for affordable housing. According to US Census figures, more than 20 million people, or 6% of the population, live in trailer parks.
It is a market that has not been lost on some of the country's richest and most high-profile investors. Sam Zell's Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS) is the largest mobile home park owner in America, with controlling interests in nearly 140,000 parks. In 2014, ELS made $777m in revenue, helping boost Zell's near-$5bn fortune.

Warren Buffett, the nation's second-richest man with a $72bn fortune, owns the biggest mobile home manufacturer in the US, Clayton Homes, and the two biggest mobile home lenders, 21st Mortgage Corporation and Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Company.

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America's trailer parks: the residents may be poor but the owners are getting rich