Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust second quarter's 2022 earnings call. At this time, note that all lines are in a listen-only mode, but following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during the call you do require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. Also note that the call is being recorded on August 10th, 2022. And I would like to turn the conference over to Eric Bowers. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Sylvie, and welcome to the BoardWalk REIT 2022 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. With me here today are Sam Kolias, Chief Executive Officer, Lisa Svandic, Chief Financial Officer, James Ha, President, and Rick Anda, Head of Acquisitions. Please note that this call is being broadly disseminated by way of webcast. If you have not already done so, please visit bwalk.com slash investors, where you will find the link to today's presentation, as well as PDF files of the trust financial statements, MD&A, as well as supplemental information package. Starting on slide two, we would like to remind our listeners that certain statements in this call and presentation may be considered forward-looking statements. Although the expectations set forth in such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, Boardwalks future operation and its actual performance may defer materially from those in any forward looking statements. Additional information that could cause actual results to defer materially from these statements are detailed in Boardwalks publicly filed documents. I would like to now turn the call over to Sam Collius.

Thank you Eric and welcome everyone to our Q2 2022 conference call. Starting on slide four, our performance with our gap and non-gap measures of FFO per unit, profit per unit, net asset value and unit holder equity, and fair value of investment properties, all seeing an increase from the prior quarter last year. Slide five, our Q2 2022 FFO per unit growth is at 6.7% from the same quarter last year, reflecting a strong apartment rental fundamentals in our core markets. Slide six, Our strategy to create value for all our stakeholders begins with our people. We are positioned and are so grateful for our extraordinary team who continues to innovate and deliver our places, homes for our resident members. In turn, this leads to leading earnings performance, which we believe will continue to result in strong total returns for all our stakeholders. Our strategic focuses are significant organic growth from utilizing our proven platform that focuses on operational excellence to optimize NOI growth. When we pair this with the current improvement in apartment rental market fundamentals on a solid foundation of some of the most affordable rents in Canada, we are well positioned to accelerate on our organic growth trend. Accretive capital recycling focuses on opportunistic investment into acquisitions, development and investment into our own high-quality existing portfolio with a tactical unit buyback. These opportunistic investments, combined with our operational optimization, have positioned BoardWalk for increasing asset values within BoardWalk's diversified and high-quality multifamily portfolio. Our solid financial foundation provides flexibility on our balance sheet with our growing free cash flow and with CMHC Insurance on 96% of our financings which provides access to low cost mortgage capital with reduced renewal risk. Slide seven, we are in the right place at the right time, delivering solid growth. Boardwalk's existing exposure to strong rental demand, non-price controlled markets with increased immigration, significant organic growth as Alberta and Saskatchewan have some of the most affordable rental rates in the country with limited new supply versus demand in both international and interprovincial migration. Rising interest rates, making home ownership more expensive, and rising construction costs are all widening the gap between our replacement cost of our assets and our current valuation. Construction levels remain low relative to historic levels and the stronger demand for housing. In our largest market, Edmonton, The factors that have led to lower occupancy in the past are reversing now and helping to contribute to our overall significant occupancy gains. The economy is opening as restrictions have eased, international migration has returned as well as university students, blue collar jobs which can't work from home are now being filled again and previous oversupply in Edmonton continues to be absorbed by an increase in demand and a flattening of new supply as many builders have moved to BC to build where there's a need for more supply. Overall, new supply in Edmonton continues to remain flat as condo construction has declined sharply, offsetting the sharp increase in rental construction. Apartment rental fundamentals are quickly moving to a low single-digit market-wide vacancy, resulting in incentives dropping. Slide eight, Alberta saw an increase of 15,000 full-time jobs in July, while overall in Canada, jobs decreased by 30,600 as per the most recent jobs numbers published by Statistics Canada. The economy and labour market in Alberta has significantly improved with our jobs minister expecting our economy to bounce back to 2014 levels. Per the Royal Bank of Canada June 2022 provincial report, Strong growth is continued to be expected in Alberta with real GDP growth of 5.7%. In addition, Calgary has risen to third in the Economist Intelligent Unit annual list of the world's most livable cities, our record highest ranking, which makes Calgary the most desirable place to live in North America. Real-time statistics. published by the Calgary Real Estate Board reflect home sales in Calgary are moderating relative to a couple months ago, in part due to the recent increase in interest rates. Total sales and median prices remain slightly up so far in August compared to a year ago, reflecting continued strong demand for affordability. In addition to the positive impact that higher commodity prices are providing for our Western Canadian markets with Alberta's fiscal budget now balanced, there has been a steady stream of investment and job creating announcements from the emerging technology and clean energy sectors. As of the most recent data, over 106,600 jobs are now vacant and available in Alberta, which is approximately 58% growth in job vacancies since May 2021. Slide 9. shows our large presence in affordable and non-price-controlled markets, with Alberta and Saskatchewan representing 62.4% and 10.4% of our portfolio. Boardwalk's current mark-to-market, which includes the reduction of incentives, averages $145 per month and equates to a significant $55 million revenue opportunity. Slide 10, our markets. and portfolio provide some of the most affordable rents in Canada when comparing to median incomes. In addition, projected population growth in our markets are outpacing new supply, leading to strong apartment rental and housing market fundamentals. Our available supply of affordability are a great opportunity for new and existing Canadians looking for a new affordable place to call home. Slide 11 shows our retention continues to increase with our lower move-outs and stronger move-ins leading to occupancy gains with decreasing turnovers and a rising occupancy of approximately 97.1%. As per our appendix, slide 32, we continue to see more move-ins from out of town as more existing and new Canadians move back to Alberta and Saskatchewan. Slide 12 shows our key operational metrics with actual occupancy of approximately 97.1%. Incentives continue to drop. Occupied rent continues to increase, with vacancy loss decreasing in the busier spring-summer season, resulting in an increase in revenue this quarter. Slide 13 shows continual improvement in net new and renewal rental rates. Year over year, we have seen significant improvements With restrictions easing and favorable economic fundamentals, we are seeing growing strength in our apartment rental fundamentals, positioning us to capture our significant mark-to-market opportunity. On slide 14, which shows our quarterly sequential revenue growth of 2.2%, a significant increase from previous periods, reflecting strong apartment rental fundamentals. This sequential revenue growth is our best quarterly sequential gain since 2008. We would like to now pass the call on to Lisa Smandich, who will provide us with an overview of our portfolio performance, balance sheet, and repositioning results. Lisa?