Battle over mobile-home parks in California

New York

THE free market wouldn't plop down a trailer park just a few kilometres from downtown San Jose. At least not today, in a sharply spiking housing market that has made the metropolitan area one of the most expensive in the US. But that's where you'll find Winchester Ranch and its 111 mobile-home lots, just down the street from an upscale shopping mall, a newly created development zone, and a major highway interchange.

"The best use for that land is probably apartments," said Gary Hansen, a senior vice president at Cushman Wakefield, the commercial real estate firm with offices just across Winchester Boulevard from the mobile homes. You don't need to be a broker to reach Mr Hansen's conclusion: "It's a premier location."