Independence Realty Trust, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Independence Realty Trust third quarter 2021 earnings release. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Lauren Torres. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to review Independence Realty Trust's third quarter 2021 financial results. On the call with me today are Scott Schaefer, our Chief Executive Officer, Jim Sebra, our Chief Financial Officer, and Farrell Ender, President of IRT. Today's call is being webcast on our website at www.irtliving.com. There will be a replay of the call available via webcast on our Investor Relations website and telephonically beginning at approximately 12 p.m. Eastern Time today. Before I turn the call over to Scott, I'd like to remind everyone that there may be forward-looking statements made on this call. These forward-looking statements reflect IRT's current views with respect to future events, financial performance, and the proposed merger with Steadfast Apartment REIT, which will be referenced herein as star. Actual results could differ substantially and materially from what IRT has projected, and there can be no assurance that IRT will consummate the merger within the expected timeframe or at all. Such statements are made in good faith pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please refer to IRT's press release, supplemental information, and filings with the SEC for factors that could affect the accuracy of our expectations or cause our future results to differ materially from those expectations. Participants may discuss non-GAAP financial measures during this call. A copy of IRT's earnings press release and supplemental information containing financial information, other statistical information, and a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most direct comparable GAAP financial measure is attached to IRT's current report on the Form 8K available at IRT's website under Investor Relations. IRT's other SEC filings are also available through this link. IRT does not undertake to update forward-looking statements in this call or with respect to matters described herein, except as may be required by law. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Scott Schaefer.

Thank you, Lauren, and thank you all for joining us today. We're excited to review our third quarter results, which reflect the strength of our business and the opportunities that lie ahead. On today's call, I'd first like to provide some quarterly highlights and then update you on our proposed merger with STAR. In the third quarter, we experienced continued momentum due to the execution of our strategic plan and strong resident demand, supported by positive migration trends, as well as favorable population and employment growth in our markets. This has allowed us to achieve high occupancy levels at our communities and drive significant rental rate growth, which was clearly reflected in our third quarter results. Specifically, our same store NOI increased 14.7% in the quarter, and our core FFO improved more than 25% compared to a year ago. Our same store average occupancy increased to 96%, a 220 basis point increase on a year-over-year basis. Our average effective monthly rent per unit grew 7.3% in the quarter, And we collected over 98% of third quarter rents and have now collected 99.4% of second quarter rents. We are very pleased with these results, especially given that we generated positive NRI growth in each quarter throughout the entirety of the pandemic. And with favorable demand trends continuing, we are seeing strong results so far in October. Our total portfolio average occupancy is 96.2%, a 130 basis point improvement compared to October of last year. We have collected nearly 96% of October rents, which is consistent with collections at this point in prior months. And given our high occupancy in the third quarter, we continue to drive rent growth, averaging 14.2% for leases signed so far in the fourth quarter on a blended basis. We also continue to execute on our proven value-add program. In the third quarter, we completed renovations on 330 units, And since commencement of our value-add program, we have now completed 4,419 units at an average cost of $12,783 per unit and generated average rent premiums of $188 per month, resulting in an unleveraged ROI of approximately 18%. As mentioned on our last earnings call, after the combination of IRTs and STARS portfolio, we will have a pipeline of approximately 20,000 units available for future renovation. In addition to our value-add program, IRT will continue to assess markets where we see long-term growth opportunities and reevaluate those that may not be attractive long-term investments, while engaging in joint venture relationships focused on new multifamily development. Most recently, we entered into a joint venture with a partner to develop three new communities in Nashville, an exciting market that we'll be entering at scale post-merger. Farrell will provide more details on this shortly. But before I hand it over to Farrell, I would like to provide you with an update on our proposed merger with STAR. Last quarter, we announced our intent to join together two very similar high-quality businesses with complementary geographic footprints, creating a 38,000-unit portfolio focused in the highly desirable Sunbelt region of the United States. I'm pleased to note that integration on the plan merger with STAR is progressing well. We continue to have good visibility on realizing our projected annual synergies of $28 million and expect the transaction to be immediately accreted to core FFO per share by approximately 11%. We expect to close the transaction in the second half of December, pending shareholder approval at our special shareholders meeting on December 13th. This is an exciting time for both IRT and Star stakeholders, as our business combination will create a leading publicly traded multi-family REIT in markets where we see substantial room for growth. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Farrell for an operational update. Farrell?