As mobile home sales fall, parks remain full in Midland & Ector counties

MIDLAND and ​ECTOR COUNTIES – A year into the oil downturn, housing costs have fallen somewhat with fewer sales, apartment rents are down with increased vacancies.

The mobile home market has fallen too, but it remains relatively resilient against more expensive options, according to people in the business.

In 2015, mobile home sales in Ector County fell by 41 percent from the previous year, as oilfield activity plummeted. 

In Midland County, sales fell by 37 percent.

But those figures can be misleading, said Ed Lasater, president of ICA Properties, which owns the Airline Mobile Home Park and sells homes through its subsidiary, A-1 Mobile Homes. 

ICA’s local mobile home sales have fallen by less than half the amount of the average reported in each county.

At Airline Mobile Home Park, out of 615 units, there were just two vacancies last week — one for a mobile home and one for an RV.

The noticeable turnover in the past six months was among mobile homes rented out by their owners. And foreclosures at Airline Mobile Home Park remain few.