UDR, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to UDR's second quarter 2022 earnings call. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Senior Director of Investor Relations, Trent Trujillo. Thank you, Mr. Trujillo. You may now begin.

Welcome to UDR's quarterly financial results conference call. Our press release and supplemental disclosure package were distributed yesterday afternoon and posted to the investor relations section of our website, ir.udr.com. In the supplement, we have reconciled all non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure in accordance with Reg G requirements. Statements made on this call which are not historical may constitute forward-looking statements. Although we believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be met. A discussion of risks and risk factors are detailed in our press release and included in our filings with the SEC. We do not undertake a duty to update any forward-looking statements. When we get to the question and answer portion, we ask that you be respectful of everyone's time and limit your questions to one plus a follow-up. Management will be available after the call for your questions that did not get answered during the Q&A session today. I will now turn the call over to UDR's Chairman and CEO, Tom Toomey.

Thank you, Trent, and welcome to UDR's second quarter 2022 conference call. Presenting on the call with me today are Senior Vice President of Operations Mike Lacey and President and Chief Financial Officer Joe Fisher, who will discuss our results. Senior Officers Andrew Kantor and Chris Van Enns will also be available during the Q&A portion of the call. Let's get started. We continue to be in the strongest operating environment I've seen over my tenure in the multifamily industry. This is largely driven by the strength of our customer, relative affordability among housing options, and steady near-term supply. This, combined with ongoing accretion from our well-timed 2021 acquisitions and DCP activity, drove our strong quarterly results, including a 16% year-over-year increase in FFOA, and led to our second guidance raise this year. Still, we are aware of the underlying economic crosscurrents that support our business and how they may impact the results in the near term. We believe UDR is well equipped to manage this environment based on what we can control. Specifically, first, our diversified portfolio as defined by geographic mix, portfolio quality and location within markets should provide some level of risk mitigation. Second, our ongoing innovation will continue to drive relatively better margin expansion and drive more accreted dollars to the bottom line irrespective of the macro environment. Third, our anticipated 2023 revenue growth earn-in of 5% is about four times the average earn-in over the past decade. Fourth, our balance sheet in excellent shape with plenty of capacity to invest in highly accretive opportunities. And last, compared to prior periods of economic uncertainty, we have a lower leverage profile, higher liquidity, and minimal debt maturities over the next three years. While not in our direct control, there are also favorable conditions that are supportive of the multifamily industry, including first, Shelter is a necessity, and multifamily rentals continue to screen incredibly cheap versus housing alternatives, despite the exceptionally strong effective rent growth our industry continues to realize. And second, wage growth remains strong, unemployment is historically low, and employers may be less willing to lay off employees during a potential downturn given the ongoing challenges of finding skilled labor. All in, our growth prospects for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023 are very strong. These tailwinds combined with our leading operational capabilities and innovation, which Mike will further detail in his comments, should drive incremental margin expansion, higher resident satisfaction, and more value from our real estate. Moving on, we continue to build on our position as a recognized global leader in ESG with the hiring of Patsy Dorr as UDR's chief ESG and people officer and our commitment to the science-based targeting initiative to reduce our carbon footprint. We are focused on continuing to be a leader on ESG. Furthermore, during the quarter, We appointed Joe Fisher to the role of president in addition to his responsibilities as CFO. Joe's promotion reflects his strong leadership and ability to consistently create incremental shareholder value. In closing, I remain very optimistic on the resiliency of the multifamily industry and know we have the right team in place to deliver best-in-class results. Moving forward, we will continue to base our decisions on data and adjust our tactics to maximize our competitive advantages while delivering value to our stakeholders. I thank all my fellow UDR associates for their effort to demonstrate on a daily basis. Your commitment and dedication to drive our innovation culture and the success we enjoy together. With that, I will turn the call over to Mike.