Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.

and Director of Capital Markets of MAA for opening comments.

Thank you, Regina, and good morning, everyone. This is Andrew Schaefer, Treasurer and Director of Capital Markets for MAA. Members of the management team participating on the call this morning with prepared comments are Eric Bolton, Brad Hill, Tim Argo, and Clay Holder. Rob DelFrori and Joe Frocky are also participating and available for questions as well. Before we begin with prepared comments this morning, I want to point out that as part of this discussion, company management will be making forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from our projections. We encourage you to refer to the forward-looking statement section in yesterday's earnings release and our 34-act filings with the SEC, which describe risk factors that may impact future results. During this call, we will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, a presentation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as well as reconciliations of the differences between non-GAAP and comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release and supplemental financial data. Our earnings release and supplement are currently available on the For Investors page of our website at www.maac.com. A copy of our prepared comments and an audio recording of this call will also be available on our website later today. After some brief prepared comments, the management team will be available to answer questions. I will now turn the call over to Eric.

Thanks, Andrew, and performance trends in the first quarter were in line with our expectations, and we enter the summer leasing season well positioned. Pricing trends for new resident move-ins continue to reflect the impact from new supply delivering in several of our markets. Our renewal pricing remains strong. Encouragingly, blended lease over lease pricing in the first quarter captured 100 basis points improvement as compared to the prior quarter, followed by April pricing that was ahead of the first quarter performance. While the bulk of the leasing year is still in front of us, we do like our early positioning as we head into the summer leasing season. We continue to believe that our high-growth markets are producing solid demand sufficient to absorb the new supply in a steady manner that will enable continued stable occupancy, strong renewal pricing, strong collections, and overall revenue results that are aligned with the outlook that we provided in our prior guidance. Our leasing traffic remains strong and record low resident turnover, favorable net migration trends, and stable employment conditions across our diversified portfolio and markets continue to drive solid demand. While we expect leasing conditions will remain pressured by new supply deliveries through the year, Our on-site teams actively supported by our asset management group are doing a terrific job. Superior resident services as reflected by our sector leading Google ratings and record high resident retention rates along with several new technology capabilities introduced over the past couple of years are making a meaningful difference in this competitive environment. With new supply deliveries poised to begin tapering later this year, demand trends remaining stable and occupancy remaining strong, we remain optimistic that leasing conditions should recover quickly and begin improving in early 2025. While the transaction market remains slow, we are seeing more acquisition opportunities for new lease-up projects, which Brad will touch on in his comments, and we remain comfortable with our transaction expectation for the year. I continue to be optimistic about our ability to work through the current supply cycle with our high-growth markets and our high-growth markets' ability to absorb new supply. With a 30-year performance record focused on these high-growth markets, we've operated through prior supply cycles. Today, we believe our diversified and higher-quality portfolio, our stronger operating platform, our stronger balance sheet have its position to compete at an even higher level We're excited about the outlook over the next few years. Our high growth markets continue to offer attractive long-term appeal for employers, households, and real estate investors. We have meaningful future growth on the horizon as new supply deliveries decline and leasing conditions strengthen. Several new technology initiatives will drive further efficiencies and higher operating margins from our existing portfolio And a pipeline of redevelopment opportunities will also drive higher rent growth from our existing properties. And finally, our external growth pipeline continues to expand, setting the stage for meaningful additional NOI growth. I'd like to send my appreciation to our MAA team for a solid start to 2024. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Brad.