Independence Realty Trust, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Independence Reality Trust first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded and a replay will be made available on the investor section of the company's website shortly after this concludes. At this time, I will turn the call over to Stephanie Crewson-Kelly, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Capital Markets. Ms. Crewson-Kelly, you may go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Independence Realty Trust conference call to discuss first quarter 2026 results. On the call with me today are Scott Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer, Jim Sebra, President and Chief Financial Officer, Janice Richards, Executive Vice President, and Jason Lynch, Senior Vice President of Investments. Before we begin, please note that any forward-looking statements made during this call are based on our current expectations and beliefs as to future events and financial performance. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such statements are made in good faith pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and IRT does not undertake to update them except as may be required by law. Please refer to IRT's press release, supplemental information, and filings with the SEC for further information about these risks. A copy of IRT's earnings press release and supplemental information is attached to IRT's current report on the Form 8K that is available in the Investors section of our website. They contain reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures referenced on this call to the most direct comparable GAAP financial measure. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Scott Schaefer.

Thanks, Stephanie, and thank you all for joining us this morning. First quarter results were in line with our expectations and represented a solid start to the year. Same-store revenue and NOI increased, reflecting stable year-over-year occupancy and a 40 basis point increase in effective rents. Our performance this quarter reinforces three themes, portfolio stability, improving market fundamentals, and disciplined capital allocation. While certain markets are still working through late cycle supply, The trajectory we are seeing in asking rents along with the stability of demand supports our outlook for sequential improvement in revenue as we move through the leasing season. On the supply front, new deliveries in our markets continue to decrease and are trending well below the long-term average. On a macro level, job growth, population growth, and household formation in our markets are forecasted to meaningfully outpace the national average. First quarter operating results reflect these improving market fundamentals. Average occupancy was stable at 95.2%, and resident retention of 60.5% remained high, both consistent with our expectations. Asking rents in our markets have increased an average of 2.8% this year, and every one of our markets has seen asking rents increase since January 1st. Our recent strategy of prioritizing occupancy now positions us to prioritize rental rate growth during the upcoming leasing season. Concession activity has started to moderate, but is still elevated compared to historical levels. The combination of normalizing concessions and the trajectory of market rent growth against our known lease expirations supports our confidence that new lease tradeouts will reach breakeven this leasing season. Turning to capital allocation, value-add renovations continue to be our most attractive investment opportunity. During the quarter, we completed 426 units, generating an average unlevered return of 15.4%. First quarter volume supports our full-year assumption of completing 2,000 to 2,500 units in 2026. On the capital recycling front, we continue to make progress on the two assets held for sale, and our joint venture in the Las Colinas Submarket of Dallas, known as the Mustang, is currently marketed for sale. The proceeds from these recycling efforts will be redeployed based on the best risk-adjusted return opportunities at that time, including stock repurchases, deleveraging, and or new investments. Finally, during the quarter, we took advantage of the ongoing dislocation in the public markets by repurchasing 1.8 million of our shares at a cost of $30 million, bringing total repurchases since the fourth quarter of last year to 3.7 million shares and $60 million. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim.