Independence Realty Trust, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Independence Realty Trust's third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded and a replay will be available in the investors section of the company's website shortly after the call concludes. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Stephanie Krewson-Kelly, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Capital Markets. Ms. Krewson-Kelly, please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning. Today's call will focus on IRT's third quarter results and standalone outlook with a brief update on the pending merger with CenterSpace. We will provide more detail on the combined company after the merger closes. On the call with me today are Scott Schaeffer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jim Sebra, President and Chief Financial Officer, Janice Richards, Executive Vice President of Revenue Strategy, and Jason Lynch, Senior Vice President of Investments. Before we begin, please note that there may be forward-looking statements made during this call. These forward-looking statements reflect IRT's current views with respect to future financial performance, future events, and the proposed merger with CenterSpace. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such statements remain in good faith pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation and 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, including the definitive joint proxy prospectus, for further information about these risks. A copy of IRT's third quarter earnings press release and supplemental information is attached to IRT's current report on Form 8K, which is available in the investors section of our website. They contain reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures referenced on this call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. With that, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Scott Schaeffer.

Thanks, Stephanie, and thank you all for joining us this morning. I am pleased to report another solid quarter. Core FFO per share of 29 cents and same store NOI growth of 1.6%. We're both in line with our expectations. and we are reaffirming the midpoint of full-year guidance for both metrics. Our rate over occupancy strategy this leasing season worked as intended. During the third quarter, asking rents held firm and we cut concession use on new leases nearly in half from second quarter levels. As a result, new lease tradeouts on late-term leases accelerated by 210 basis points sequentially and increased 310 basis points year over year. The recovery is now broad-based. Over the past year, new lease spreads on like-term leases improved in nine of our 10 largest markets, led by Atlanta, and lead volume is up 11%. Renewal rents improved 200 basis points year over year. Average occupancy of 95% was flat sequentially, and resident retention improved. Taken together, blended rents on like-term leases grew 2.8% in the quarter, our best result in five quarters. During the quarter, we continued to recycle capital, selling a property in Memphis, and subsequent to quarter end acquired our joint venture partners interest in the Mustang, a 275 unit newly constructed community on the last lakefront multifamily development parcel in the Las Colinas sub market of Dallas. As we close out 2026, favorable market tailwinds and company specific growth initiatives position IRT for meaningful earnings growth in 2027. First, supply demand fundamentals continue to improve and support higher effective rents. New deliveries in our markets have fallen by more than half since peaking in 2024 to about 2.5% of inventory this year, and CoStar projects a further decline in 2027. Demand continues to outpace national averages, and absorption remains strong. Second, with sticky inflation and higher interest rates, the cost of home ownership continues to favor renting over ownership, generating more demand for rental apartments. Third, people continue to migrate to our non-gateway markets motivated by employment opportunities and are seeking a better quality of life, which includes overall affordability. IRT's portfolio offers residents the attractive solution of high-quality housing at monthly rents that are materially below new construction rents. Fourth, we completed our initial rollout of community Wi-Fi ahead of plan, and it will contribute a full year of revenue and NOI to 2027 results. Finally, our value-add program remains an important low-risk way to capture higher market rents and drive core FFO growth. During the first nine months of this year, we completed nearly 1,800 value-add renovations and an average unlevered return on investment of approximately 15%, and we remain on track to complete 2,200 renovations for the year. We are always refining our renovation processes and have further reduced the average unit turn time from approximately 25 days to now 17 days. This shortened turn time allows us to complete more renovations without meaningfully impacting occupancy. Accordingly, we expect to increase the number of units renovated during 2027. which will further drive NOI and earnings growth. Turning to center space, the pending merger builds on the momentum I just outlined and amplifies it across three dimensions, growth, value, and scale. First is growth. We expect the transaction to be approximately 5% accretive to 2027 core FFO per share on a leverage neutral basis and accretive to day one NAV driven largely by the operating synergies of IRT's more cost efficient platform. More importantly, it enhances our longer term earnings profile. Beyond the $24 million of identified synergies, approximately 3,200 of Center Space's apartment units are ripe for our Value Add program, and 10,000 units will be added to our community Wi-Fi program, extending these two revenue-enhancing initiatives across a larger combined portfolio. Second is value. After accounting for synergies and one-time costs, we are acquiring Center Space at a 7.3% nominal cap rate, a meaningful discount to its net asset value, and at a price per door that is well below replacement costs. Third is scale. Center space's 10,500 units will increase our unit count by more than 30% to approximately 44,400 apartment homes in markets that are demand-rich and supply-constrained. The merger also brings our G&A load in line with our larger cap peers. As a final note, since the merger announcement, both Fitch and S&P have reaffirmed our investment-grade ratings, and I am pleased to report that multiple independent proxy advisory firms have recommended that IRT stockholders vote in favor of the merger. Our special meeting is November 10th, and we encourage all stockholders to vote for their shares. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim.