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

Welcome to the Dream Residential REIT First Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call on Thursday, May 8, 2025. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] During this call, management of Dream Residential REIT may make statements containing forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Dream Residential REIT's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is contained in Dream Residential REIT's filings with securities regulators, including its latest annual information form and MD&A. These filings are also available on Dream Residential REIT's website at www.dreamresidentialreit.ca. Your host for today will be Mr. Brian Pauls, CEO of Dream Residential REIT. Mr. Pauls, please proceed.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Dream Residential REIT's First Quarter 2025 Conference Call. Speaking with me today are Scott Schoeman, our Chief Operating Officer; and Derrick Lau, our Chief Financial Officer. Q1 2025 results were largely in line with management's expectations. Comparative NOI growth was 0.8% year-over-year. Comparative properties NOI margin was 50.9% compared to 50.6% in the prior year comparative quarter. FFO per unit was $0.17 and largely consistent on a year-over-year basis. Occupancy has remained steady at 93.3%. And during the quarter, we completed 9 renovations in Cincinnati with return on invested capital exceeding our targeted range of 12% to 15%. We are targeting renovations on another 10 units in the second quarter. We expect to continue with our current renovation velocity and adjust where necessary to reflect market conditions. While much of the U.S. has experienced strong supply growth, we have been able to maintain occupancy and continue to grow NOI. Economic and operating uncertainties may persist over the near term. However, we are cautiously optimistic that national net absorption will continue. At DRR, we are already starting to see increased activity and demand in the spring leasing season. The properties continue to perform well and with low leverage and a strong balance sheet, we are well positioned for our future. In March, we retained TD Securities as our financial adviser. Our strategic review is well underway, and we will provide further updates when available. We continue to be focused on closing the gap between our trading price and the intrinsic value of our units. In the meantime, we will maintain our normal course of operations and execute on the REIT's core strategies. I will now turn it over to Scott to provide an operations update for the quarter. Scott?

Thank you, Brian. We are pleased to report $6.1 million net operating income and 50.9% NOI margin during Q1 2025. This represents 80 basis points of comparative property NOI growth compared to 2024. Revenue grew 30 basis points, operating expenses reduced 20 basis points and margin increased 60 basis points, all favorable compared with Q1 2024 results 1 year ago. 12-month comparative property NOI growth topped 3.1% compared with the preceding 12-month period ending in March 2024. At the regional level, quarterly year-over-year controllable NOI was stable in our Dallas-Fort Worth assets, but it grew 1.6% in our Oklahoma assets and 2.3% year-over-year across our Cincinnati communities. Revenue growth resumed in Q1, increasing 1.4% above last quarter, 0.3% higher than last year and 1.6% better than the preceding 12-month period. At the property level, net rental income strengthened 60 basis points year-over-year and 40 basis points quarter-over-quarter. Our property teams continue to perform exceptionally, managing controllable operating expenses on par with 1 year ago and with the trailing 12-month period. Across nondiscretionary cost categories, we are experiencing increases in utility rates and usage. However, early indications point to expected savings versus forecast for both the insurance and property tax categories during the latter half of this year. First quarter leasing conditions were challenged. Occupancy remained steady at 93.3%, renewals at a rate of 58% were prioritized and proved durable. The 0.4% blended trade-outs reflected a combined effect from winter seasonality and macro supply-driven softness. The 8 percentage point spread between new lease trade-outs and renewal trade-outs was not insignificant. But by all appearances, it was a short-lived divergence. Nationwide absorption has now swung positive for the first time in 3 years. Our March and April leasing traffic and trade-outs have notably strengthened. Thus far in Q2, new and renewal trade-outs are both in positive territory. It appears that spring leasing season is restoring and the drop-off of new deliveries is beginning to favorably improve demand. Market rent gain to lease ended Q1 at 3%, though that has already expanded above 4% thus far in Q2 in sync with increasing spring demand. Both incentives and delinquency were slightly higher than Q1 2024, but retreated favorably down from Q4 2024. Property management continues to integrate advanced software into tenant screening processes, which will reduce delinquency and improve tenant demographics over time. Last year, the value-add program paused in 2 of our markets, yet it gained momentum in our Cincinnati market on a limited scale. 9 suites were renovated during Q1, achieving 34% trade-outs and high-teen returns on invested capital. We will continue construction at a disciplined pace and carefully monitor conditions for next steps in our value creation strategy. The fundamentals of our business hold steady and positive occupancy, rents and net income. Our business is generating safe cash flow through near-term uncertainties. The shifting dynamics from supply towards demand present an optimistic landscape for our apartment communities. It is my pleasure to turn things over to Derrick Lau, our Chief Financial Officer.

Thank you, Scott, and good morning. For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, diluted funds from operations was $0.171 and compares to $0.174 in the prior year quarter. Net operating income for the first quarter was $6.1 million, an increase of 80 basis points year-over-year. NOI margin was 50.9% and compared to 50.6% in the prior year quarter. Interest expense was $1.8 million and G&A expenses were $910,000. As at March 31, 2025, the IFRS values of our properties was $399.6 million which is relatively consistent with the $400.5 million as at Q4 2024. The decrease in fair value reflects $0.5 million of building improvements, net of insurance proceeds received which is offset by a $1.5 million fair value loss. Our IFRS cap rate was 5.84% and is unchanged quarter-over-quarter. IFRS NAV was $13.37 per unit compared to $13.39 in Q4 2024. Net debt to net total assets was 33% and consistent with Q4 2024. We have no mortgage maturities in 2025 or 2026. Our weighted average term to maturity on mortgage debt is 4.5 years at an average rate of 3.99%. In addition, we continue to have $15 million drawn on our credit facility, which currently bears interest at a rate of 6.15%. At the end of Q1 2025, our liquidity was approximately $61 million, comprising of $6.4 million of cash and $55 million of availability on our credit facility. Thank you, and I will now turn it back to Brian.

Thank you, Derrick. We'd now like to open the call for questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Jonathan Kelcher with TD Cowen.

First question. In the prepared remarks, you guys seem pretty bullish on the overall -- on your overall markets? Is that -- is there one market that's -- like could you maybe dive a little bit deeper into that and talk about each of your three markets?

I think the first thing I would say is, nationally, the supply of new deliveries has dropped 20% in Q1 off of the peak. That's nationally. In our markets, it's dropped significantly more than that. In Dallas, for example, Q1 was about 50% lower than the peak quarter of deliveries. So I think that, that trend is impacting all of our markets in Oklahoma City and Cincinnati. From a percentage basis, it dropped even further than that, but those are markets that had a lower number of deliveries, but still impacted each of them. So I think broadly speaking, all of our markets are going to continue to experience a favorable rebound from a supply and demand balance. And in that regard, I think we're going to continue to see the Sunbelt respond favorably because the demographics are there. And then I think we continue to see our -- our Midwest markets perform exceptionally well, and that was -- that will continue.

Okay. And then just changing gears. There's no change in the IFRS value or cap rates. Is that a function of the strategic review? Or I guess another way to that, like what are you seeing in terms of transaction volumes and pricing in the markets right now?

Jonathan, still limited volume. So the points of comparison are relatively fewer. Obviously, there's some bigger than transactions that have occurred. In terms of market data that we're seeing, for example, Green Street, the cap rate -- overall cap rates were flat from there. So we do have points of evidence that made us choose to keep our cap rates flat. So not necessarily a part of the strategic review per se, but anecdotally, what we're seeing on the ground.

Yes. I'd just add to that, Jonathan, I don't think the strategic review had any influence on the -- on our NAV or our IFRS cap rate.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Roger Lafontaine with Nugget Capital.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you now, go ahead.

Operator, we're not able to hear Roger's question.

Yes. Mr. Lafontaine, your phone line is breaking up. Perhaps, disconnect and try dialing back in again, and we'll get you right back into the queue. The next question is from Alex Leon with Desjardins.

I just want to confirm, it sounds like the trend in the leasing environment is positive. So I guess maybe 2 questions there. Would you characterize it as the markets reached an inflection point? And then secondly, maybe your expectation on where those new renewal spreads could trend over the course of the year?

Thank you, Alex. In terms of the leasing environment, I would characterize, it's -- the first 2 months of the quarter were pretty, what I would call, winter seasonal combined with supply impacts. In March, we began to see things begin to pick up sort of in line with previous spring leasing seasons. Maybe if we go back 3 or 4 years in line with a more normal spring leasing, we're seeing that trend continue in April. And I think the overall dynamics from the demand increasing and the supply dropping off, I think we're going to see that over the course of the next 4 quarters. We're going to see a more favorable demand-oriented environment rebound there.

Okay. That's great. And then maybe just some clarification on some of the prepared remarks. I think it was mentioned that you guys were expecting some cost savings in the second half of the year. I just wanted to make sure I heard that properly. Was that on property taxes and insurance? And maybe if you can, maybe quantify that a little bit?

Certainly, I'll clarify my statement. So I was speaking specifically to nondiscretionary items, and we are seeing increases in utility rates and some upticks in usage, but that increases looks to be offset by a reduction in insurance versus our forecast. That is still to be determined because we have not renewed yet, but we're expecting to see some savings versus our forecast. And then early indications of property tax appeal and protest process appears to be a reduction from where our forecast was. But that will be played out in the latter half of the year.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Pauls for any closing remarks.

Thank you, everyone, for participating in today's call. We look forward to speaking again soon. And this concludes our call. Take care.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.