SUN COMMUNITIES INC

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities

Exchange Act of 1934

Filed by the Registrant [ X ] Filed by a Party other than the Registrant [ ]

Sun Communities, Inc.

Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter

Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement if other than the Registrant:

VISION

We are an inspired, engaged and collaborative team committed to providing extraordinary service to our residents, customers and each other.

CULTURE

Dear Fellow Shareholders,

2023 marked our 30th year as a public company and we are incredibly proud of the best-in-class portfolio we have created and of the talented Sun team members who operate it. With 667 properties comprising nearly 180,000 developed sites and approximately 48,000 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom ("UK"), we are the largest publicly traded owner-operator of manufactured housing ("MH") and recreational vehicle ("RV") communities, and marina properties. The compelling supply and demand fundamentals that underpin MH, RV and marinas, combined with Sun’s unmatched operational platform, generated another year of strong property-level results. On the demand side, the number of people needing quality, well-located, attainably priced housing, as well as the large number of RV and boat owners, represent a demand base that vastly exceeds the supply of available sites and slips. Meanwhile, there is very limited new supply due in part to zoning and other regulatory considerations.

These market conditions, combined with our high-quality properties and operational excellence, make our business highly resilient, a fact we have demonstrated by generating over 20 years of positive same-property NOI growth through economic cycles. We remain focused on our best-in-class portfolio and team, and simplifying our operations to position Sun for steady earnings growth.

Strong core NOI growth

During 2023, Sun achieved another year of strong property-level results, with total Same Property NOI increasing 7.3% over 2022, driven by a 6.2% increase in real property revenue and property expense growth of 4.2%. MH Same Property NOI, which represents roughly 53% of total Same Property NOI, grew 6.8% over the prior year. Same Property RV NOI represents 26% of total Same Property NOI and grew 4.8% during the year.

During 2023, MH and RV Same Property blended occupancy, which adjusts for the delivery and lease-up of expansion sites, increased by 230 basis points to end the year at 98.9%. The increase was largely driven by transient to annual RV site conversions of more than 2,100 sites. Since the start of 2020 when we began to strategically focus on transient-to-annual RV site conversions, we have completed nearly 7,000 conversions, representing a 24% increase in the number of annual sites. We expect to continue growing occupancy through additional transient site conversions and through select, accretive expansion activity.

Marina Same Property NOI increased by 11.7% during 2023, exceeding our expectations. Demand to access our unparalleled network of marinas remains strong, and at year end approximately 89% of our marinas had a wait list for at least one slip size.

In the UK, real property NOI was in line with our expectations, demonstrating the strong value proposition our holiday parks represent. The value of owning a holiday home in a Park Holidays property was demonstrated by the average resident tenure increasing to approximately eight years. Demand for UK home sales showed signs of stabilizing during the second half of the year. UK homes sales and margins were in line with our guidance, which reflected certain economic headwinds, including higher inflation and interest rates. Looking ahead to 2024, we anticipate the UK’s 2023 results represent a solid foundation from which to grow.

Sharpening our focus and simplifying our story

From 2010 through 2022, a large component of our growth was driven by acquisitions as we opportunistically purchased high-quality MH, RV and marina properties. With the benefit of our expanded portfolio, we have now shifted our strategy toward optimizing the value of our existing businesses through achieving strong rental rate growth and operating efficiencies. We remained disciplined in pursuing only the most strategic and synergistic new acquisition and expansion opportunities.

To simplify our business and reduce leverage, we have made strong progress toward monetizing assets no longer deemed to be strategic. We resolved the UK note and we now have the experienced Park Holidays team managing all assets we own in the UK. We sold our investment in the common stock of Ingenia, an owner/operator of MH and RV communities in Australia, recycled capital out of our consumer loan receivables portfolio, divested our interest in Campspot, and meaningfully reduced the number of properties owned in joint ventures, using the proceeds to pay down debt. During the first two months of 2024, we reduced our floating rate debt exposure further with proceeds from a $500 million unsecured bond offering and from closing on the sale of two MH properties.

Advancing our ESG platform

Throughout 2023, we demonstrated our ongoing commitment to ESG through increases in learning & development hours, volunteerism and investor engagements. We expanded our environmental reporting to be inclusive of all material direct and indirect impacts from our operations. With these expansions, and our ESG priorities for 2024, we aim to set our carbon goal baseline in 2025.

2024 and beyond

As we move further into 2024, our primary goals are to continue simplifying our operations to harness the earnings power of our portfolio, and to continue strengthening our investment grade balance sheet. By remaining disciplined in pursuing new acquisitions and developments, further deleveraging, and maximizing the efficiency of our operating platform, we are confident in Sun’s strategic position to accelerate earnings growth in the coming years.

Thank you

As a valued member of the Sun community, we hope you share our pride in our many accomplishments, as well as our excitement for our continued achievement. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Consider any other business properly brought before the Annual Meeting.

Who Can Vote

If you were a holder of record of the Company’s common stock at the close of business on March 18, 2024 (the “Record Date”), you are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting or any adjournments.

How to Cast Your Vote

YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT TO US. Please vote as promptly as possible.

Thank you for your interest in Sun Communities, Inc.

By Order of the Board of Directors

Fernando Castro-Caratini

Secretary

This Proxy Statement and our Annual Report to shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2023, are available at www.proxyvote.com.