Dream Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (DRRUN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. It is 12:00. We will now call the meeting to order. My name is Fahad Kan, and I'm a member of the Board of Dream Residential REIT. Welcome to our Annual Meeting. I will act as Chair of the meeting. Robert Hughes will act as Secretary of the meeting. With the consent of the meeting, I appoint Daniela Munoz and Rumela Mukherjee of Computershare Trust Company of Canada as scrutineers for the meeting. We will first proceed with our formal business to expedite the formal part of the meeting, Robert Hughes, a unitholder will move and Shannon Macri a unitholder will second all motions. After our formal business is concluded, our management team will make a brief presentation, and then there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please hold questions that do not relate to the formal business of the meeting until that time. I have an affidavit from Computershare as to the mailing of the notice of availability of proxy materials and the form of proxy. Our circular and other meeting materials were made available through the notice and access system. I would ask the secretary to place the affidavit before the meeting and to keep the affidavit with the REIT's records. The scrutineers have advised that there are at least 2 individuals present who are unitholders or who represent by proxy unitholders who hold at least 10% of the votes attached to all outstanding REIT units. As a result, we have a requisite quorum of unitholders present, and I declare the meeting to be properly constituted for the transaction of business. The first item of business is the presentation of the REIT's 2023 Annual Report, which contains the REIT's audited financial statements for 2023 and the report of auditors thereon. I note that the secretary has placed before the meeting a copy of the 2023 Annual Report. The next item of business is the election of trustees. As stated in our circular, 5 trustees are to be elected at the meeting and 5 nominees are named. They are Leonard Abramsky, P. Jane Gavan, Brian Pauls, Vicky Schiff and myself. Rob, will you please propose the nominees for election?

I nominate the individuals listed in the management information circular for election as trustees of the REIT to hold office for the upcoming term.

I second the motion.

Thank you. As the REIT did not previously receive timely notice of any further nominations for persons for election as trustees in accordance with the declaration of trust, I declare the nominations closed. Are there any questions on this motion? Seeing none. Based on the proxies received, I would mention that each of the 5 nominees received a majority of votes cast in favor of their election as trustee. After the meeting, we will issue a press release with detailed voting results. Given the proxies received and as the number of persons nominated for election as a trustee is equal to the number of trustees to be elected, I propose with the consent of the meeting not to take a formal vote on the election of trustees. Therefore, I confirm that the motion that has been carried and the 5 persons who were nominated have been elected as trustees by acclamation. The next item of business is the appointment of auditors. The Audit Committee and the Board have recommended the reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Limited LLP chartered professional accountants as auditors. Can I have a motion?

I move that the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP be appointed auditors of the REIT and its subsidiaries for the ensuing year and that the Board of Trustees be authorized to fix their remuneration.

I second the motion.

Are there any questions on this motion? Seeing none. The meeting will now vote on the motion. I propose to take the vote by a show of hands. I would ask those registered unitholders and duly appointed proxy holders who are in favor of the motion to please raise your hand. [Voting]

Any votes withheld? The motion is carried. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP have been reappointed as auditors and the trustees authorized to fix their remuneration. The formal items of business as set out in the notice of meeting have now been dealt with. As there is no further business to come before this meeting, I declare the formal part of the meeting to be concluded, and the formal meeting adjourned. I now invite the management team to make a short presentation. After their presentation, we will have a question period. Thank you.

Thank you, Fahad, and welcome, everyone. Good afternoon, and welcome to Dream Residential REIT's Annual General Meeting. This marks just over a year since I joined the management team of DRR and just over 2 years since we IPO-ed. And I'd like to thank the Board and our unitholders for their continued support. I'm excited to continue my work with the management team as we pursue growth initiatives and value creation for our unitholders. 2023 was a transitional year for the multifamily sector with fundamentals moderating after substantial growth during the pandemic. Higher interest rates have slowed the transaction market and new supply has impacted our rental rates -- the rental rate growth nationwide. Dream Residential's portfolio, however, has continued to outperform national benchmarks as we had another successful year of operations, maintaining stable occupancy and delivering comparative property NOI growth of over 9% based on annualized 2022 results. In November, we sold our only asset in Kansas, above our IFRS value. We recognized an opportunity to recycle an asset where we had fully executed our business plan in a nonstrategic market. The sale proceeds are being reinvested in our value-add program and continue to help drive rent growth and property value. We assembled our current DRR portfolio over many years and believe in the long-term value of the properties. Our portfolio comprises 15 garden-style properties located in the Midwest and Sunbelt U.S. markets. At a glance, DRR has 3,300 suites. We sit at 94% occupancy. Our average in-place rent is USD 1,155 per month or year-over-year growth of 5.5%. Our current yield is 6.5%, and we maintain conservative leverage at 32%. We maintain our operational strategy and continue to focus on operational excellence through a professional on the ground in-house team. We are committed to prudent capital allocation, including our value-add program. Dream Residential REIT continues to be a compelling investment opportunity. We have an attractive distribution yield of 6.5%, which is supported by a safe payout ratio. Our balance sheet is conservative with 100% fixed rate debt, ample liquidity and net debt to net total assets of just 32%. We are attractively valued compared to book value, replacement value and on a relative basis compared to our peers. And the asset managers have an extensive track record of sourcing opportunities, partnering with institutional investors on transactions and joint ventures as well as creating value for our unitholders. This year, our primary focus is on servicing value in our units. We are consistently evaluating ways to increase investor awareness and generate enhanced trading liquidity. I'll turn it over to Scott Schoeman, our Chief Operating Officer, to provide an overview of our markets and properties. Scott?

Thank you, Brian. It's a pleasure to be here today for our second Annual General Meeting. I'm excited about our strong sustained performance and how we are positioned for the future. DRR's portfolio is composed of 15 garden-style suburban apartment communities concentrated within 3 primary growth markets across the Midwest and the Sunbelt, including Greater Cincinnati, Greater Oklahoma City and Greater Dallas-Fort Worth. We refer to these markets as our operating hubs because DRR has full vertically integrated teams of property management, construction management and regional leadership physically located locally in each hub. The 3,300 suites consist of individually leased 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom walk-up floor plans that average around 900 square foot per home and rent for $1.30 per square foot or about $1,155 per month. We are diversified across attractive markets, both geographically and financially, with each of the 3 existing markets strategically hand-selected with favorable demographic and employment growth characteristics, pro-business, low regulation, government dynamics and no rent control. 8 million people call the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area home. It is the fourth largest Metroplex in the nation and the fastest-growing Metroplex in the nation. More than 0.5 million jobs have been added since the pandemic and 20,000-plus young people move into the DFW market each year. Population migration, new companies and new jobs continue to drive an ever-increasing labor force that makes this region our center of gravity as a strategic operating hub. DFW leads the nation with robust economic and demographic drivers and the long-term growth fundamentals show no signs of slowing. Oklahoma City is about the same population as Calgary or Ottawa-Gatineau Metro area, and OKC is projected to continue growing faster than the national average in the United States for the next 5 years. We began acquiring multiresidential communities in the Greater Oklahoma City area for the same reasons that we entered Dallas-Fort Worth, Sunbelt, attractive business environment and lower cost of living. Oklahoma has been ranked one of the top cities in the country for young professionals due to its livability, affordability and diversifying economy. OKC was recently selected the #2 best-run city in the United States. And interestingly, 1 week ago, plans were approved for a national developer to construct the tallest building in North America right in the heart of Oklahoma City. Like Dallas-Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, our Cincinnati market benefits from strategic corporate investment, job creation and strong sustained rent growth with 2.2 million people no longer 5, but now 7 Fortune 500 firms and an enduring year in, year out, top attractor of new college graduate talent, the Cincinnati area continues to outperform nationally and within our portfolio. It's been on list for the best place to live, the best place to retire, the best parks, the best recreation and Cincinnati continues to attract some of the most talented foreign-born populations from India and China as well as U.S. residents migrating from New York City and Chicago. The U.S. multiresidential sector is deep and segmented. It is estimated that 50 million American households are renters and that there are more than 20 million rental properties. The vast majority of which around 75% are still owned by individual, not institutional investors. Our asset class is defensive and resilient while rents in the luxury segment and oversupplied high-end markets experienced negative rent reversion, Dream Residential's middle income communities continued to sustain positive rent growth and consistently surpass national benchmarks in operations performance, such as occupancy and lease trade-outs as well as with rent and net operating income growth. 12-month leases provide inflation protection and yet our resident renewals remain strong. The affordability gap between for-lease and for-sale housing is at record highs and housing availability for median income households remains one of the nation's greatest fundamental needs. Our experience is this. When times are good, people move up into our communities. And when times are tough, people move from the high-end luxury segment into our attainable communities. We have all been reading about the wave of new construction across the United States, delivering apartments nationwide, intensified across the Sunbelt. One of the most interesting facets about this supply surge is that demand has not deteriorated. In our markets, supply has peaked and demand still persists. The number of permits and starts now point toward a period ahead where supply tumbles and demand swells. Systemically, the United States and our markets continue to experience a housing shortage, our business is strongly positioned to capitalize upon these conditions. Apartment rents and expensive gateway and dense urban markets can push many Americans into a cost-burden financial condition, where their basic housing expenses exceed about 30% of their income. The cost of living in our markets provide for a healthy margin, where annual rent accounts for about 19% of household income, well below the 26% national average as well as the cost burden average of 30%. With rent levels measuring only 19% of income per month, Dream Residential provides middle market naturally occurring affordable housing for residents in good neighborhoods and strong submarkets. Our operating platform outperforms national benchmarks and increasingly innovates to become better and more efficient. Over the past 2 years, our comparative property rents have grown about 15% and our net operating income has increased 12% to 13%, all the while, over time, methodically improving margins even during an intense inflationary period. National rents dipped backwards as supply surged over the past 12 months, but DRR rents sustained positive momentum with 5.5% rent growth. We will be excited to deploy and expand our platform of people across a larger set of communities when that time is right. DRR distinguishes its business with a unique asset management shared service team, geographic diversity and internal property management. We also differentiate ourselves with a vertically integrated construction team that creates value by self-performing interior suite renovations. These upgrades attract more qualified residents. They generate strong rental premiums, they reduce turn and replacement costs, and they drive up incremental asset value. Since IPO, our renovated suites have averaged more than 20% increases on lease trade-out premiums, resulting in mid-teen returns on invested capital. The construction team is about 1/3 complete with renovations across our portfolio. Our program levers up or levers down the pace of suite redevelopment in line with seasonal and market conditions. We save over 90% on average turn and replacement costs on each upgraded suite, and that savings is not factored into the 12% to 16% raw return on invested capital. Our redevelopment teams work in all 3 markets today, and we will continue to refine and adjust our program to best optimize local demand and market conditions. Dream Residential REIT operates in attractive growth markets within a high-demand sector. We maintain strong boned assets and a safe middle of the middle resident base. We self-perform an accretive value-add reinvestment program with strong returns, and we deliver sustained benchmark beating net operating income growth. I now invite to the podium Derrick Lau, our Chief Financial Officer. Thank you.

Thank you, Scott, and good afternoon. Scott has covered our markets, portfolio and fundamentals. I'll now provide an overview of our balance sheet, financials and valuation. We remain disciplined with our capital, maintaining a conservative balance sheet with low leverage at 32% and nearly $80 million of liquidity. This provides both safety and financial flexibility. In 2023, we were focused on maintaining a well-staggered debt maturity profile. We refinanced our then closest maturity in Oklahoma, generating an additional $3.1 million in proceeds. In April, we extended our undrawn credit facility by 2 years to March 2027, providing further stability and enhanced flexibility. Later this year, we plan on refinancing our 2 nearest maturities. These 2 mortgages represent only 10% of our total debt and upon refinancing, we could potentially generate an additional $3 million of liquidity. Refinancing these mortgages with new 10-year debt at current rates, would result in an overall average interest rate of 4.15%. This remains favorable in the current debt environment. Further, our average term to maturity would extend by an additional year to 5.8 years with overall leverage remaining in the low 30% range. Of note, our debt is 100% interest only and fixed rate. This provides stability and predictable expenses. We think this is a benefit in an uncertain economic environment. At our current trend price, we believe that there's substantial embedded value in our stock. Our trading price implies a property value of $79,000 per door. This represents a discount to both our Q1 2024 IFRS value and estimated replacement cost. Overall, we believe that DRR units are attractively valued and are well positioned to deliver a solid total return through both stock price appreciation and a well-covered distribution. With that, Brian, back to you.

Thank you, Derek. We'd like to thank you for your interest and your ongoing support of Dream Residential REIT. We'd be happy to take any questions you might have.

I'm Paul from Burlington. Okay. I'm not quibbling about any of the accounting, it looks good. But this has been an underperforming stock. And it's -- you put up on the screen that the net asset value is north of $13 per share. Well, right now, it's trading at $8.90 on the Toronto Exchange. That's -- the chart shows it's been underperforming for a while. Your comment?

Yes, I think some of our challenges, our investor awareness. We're working hard to get our name out there and have investors recognize the opportunity. Our float is small. We've got a lot of very stable unitholders that don't trade. So there's not a lot of trades that happen. So liquidity can be an issue for new people coming into the stock. Our properties are performing very well. Our focus is really to maintain our operational excellence, continue to operate the properties at high occupancy and high performance as well as I mentioned in my remarks, doing everything we can to help that stock price. We're personally invested in it. We'd like to see it grow, and that's going to come through investor awareness and kind of spreading our investor net wider, and we're working on that.

Are you expanding through building your own properties or buying existing ones?

We buy existing ones. We're not doing any development. We own existing properties, and we're expanding through growing our NOI through our value-add program as well as looking at additional properties to purchase.

You're not identifying -- maybe you can't say until it happens, what you're going to buy over the short term?

No, I think there's -- for reasons that I mentioned in my remarks, and Scott did in his, there may be some opportunities to buy. We watch the markets we're currently in as well as some other target markets very closely. Over the next few years, we're anticipating some opportunities to buy. But we haven't found just the right property yet. More questions? Yes, sir, in the corner.

Stock repurchase, what price do you see...

So we -- there is an NCIB in place that allows us to buy stock. We've used that sparingly. I mentioned in my remarks that we spend a lot of our liquidity and the proceeds from our asset sale reinvesting in our current property. So that is to make sure that our properties are performing well. We're growing rents and we're growing NOI and we're adding value to those existing properties. So we do have an NCIB in place that we have used sparingly. Our liquidity is precious. We want to have dry powder for acquisition opportunities. So there's this allocation of capital between our existing properties, buying our own stock as well as looking at acquisitions. So it's a balance there that we're trying to maintain. Any other questions? Seeing none, I'll thank you again for your support today and look forward to seeing you at next year's AGM.