European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust second quarter 2024 conference call. My name is Jaquita. I will be your moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted in the presentation portion of the call with the opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to pass the conference over to your host, Nicole Dolan with European Residential Real Estate Trust. Nicole, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that during our conference call this morning, we may include forward-looking statements about expected future events and the financial and operating results of ERAS, which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. We direct your attention to slide two and our other regulatory filings for important information about these statements. I will now turn the call over to Mark Kenney, Chief Executive Officer.

Thanks, Nicole, and good morning, everyone. Joining me this morning is Jenny Chow, our Chief Financial Officer, and Karim Farooq, our Managing Director. We'll get started on slide four. Residential occupancies were high at 97.7% at period end. However, this is down slightly versus the first quarter as a result of our optimization program which continues to drive the majority of our vacancy. Occupied average rent for the residential portfolio was 1,072 euro per month on June 30th, representing an increase of 6.2% compared to June 30th, 2023. This remains above our target range of 3 to 5%, reflecting the continued strength of the Dutch multi-residential market fundamentals, as well as the REIT's ability to navigate the complex an evolutionary regulatory regime in the Netherlands. I will also point out that this rent growth incorporates 2023 indexation of a weighted average 4%. For indexation effective July 1st, 2024, our weighted average increase was 5.6%, and that will positively impact our future operational results. On slide five, you'll see we've been quite active in terms of unlocking value and recycling our capital since the first quarter. We've gained momentum on our suite by suite privatization program. And since Q1, we've disposed of an additional 56 suites for 15.1 million euro in gross proceeds. This is on top of the 24 single suite sales completed in the first quarter. In June, we also closed on the disposition of one 66-suite portfolio for €14.2 million. And a further 464 suites were sold in July for €100.7 million. We're using net proceeds from these strategic sales primarily to pay down debt in order to lower our leverage, reduce our exposure to interest rate risk, and strengthen our balance sheet. On the latter, the fair value of our property portfolio was down overall due to our disposition program, but we did recognize a fair value gain of €11.1 million for Q2, a result of higher forward NOI, as well as a slowly recovering transactional market in the Netherlands. With accretive sales and a slight fair value increase on our stabilized portfolio, Our diluted NAV per unit was up modestly to 2.94 euro at period end. I will now turn the call over to Jenny to provide an update on our financial performance.

Thanks Mark. Life Center summarizes our performance for the second quarter, which Mark touched on earlier for the total residential portfolio. On the same property basis, Occupancies in AMR growth were similarly high at 97.8% and 6.3% respectively. This drove the 5.4% increase in same property NOI as compared to Q2 of 2023, while our margin landed at 78.8%. This was 30 basis point lower than prior year period due to higher property operating costs as the percentage of revenue. This is attributable to our strategy of decorating capital away from common area and in-suite improvement and partially redeploying that into increased RNN work. On the whole, however, we are spending less and enhancing our cash return. In the second quarter, total portfolio operating costs increased by 4.8% versus the comparative period, which hits our margin. However, that compares to the 52% decrease in common area and in-suite CapEx over the same period, highlighting our net savings. As per recent quarters, organic growth was offset by elevated interest and diluted FFO per unit was down by 4.9% versus the comparative period to 3.9 Eurocent for the three months ended June 30 of 2024. However, this is flat compared to the first three months of this year. With a stable rate of distribution, our ASFO payout ratio remained within our long-term target range at 81.1% for the current period. Our performance for the first half of 2024 is outlined on slide 8, and I'll briefly walk through that now. Again, robust rent growth was the main driver of the increase in both operating revenues and NOI, up by 4.6% and 5.7% respectively. Our margin increased by 80 basis points to 78.6% for the current six-month period. However, with higher interest being incurred on credit facilities and mortgages payable, FFO and AFFO per unit diluted were down by 3.7% and 3.9% respectively. On slide nine, you'll see that we were able to lower our leverage slightly this quarter and our ratio of adjusted debt to portfolio market value was 57% at period end. In addition to our debt service and interest coverage ratios of 2.4 times and 2.8 times respectively on June 30th, 2024, we remain in compliance with all of our cabinet restrictions. Going forward, we'll continue to actively monitor and manage our debt profile accordingly. That includes our mortgage profile, which is displayed on slide 10. It currently carries a weighted average effective rate of 2.2% and a weighted average term to maturity of 2.5 years at peer debt. Although we have a staggered maturity profile, We have been reallocating net disposition proceeds into the repayment of associate mortgage principal upstanding. We do remain cognizant of higher renewal risk with our remaining mortgages maturing in the near term and will continue striving to service incremental capital to mitigate this impact. I will now send it back to Mark to wrap up.

Thank you, Jenny. We're excited to be executing on our previously stated commitment to maximize value for the REIT and its unit holders. As shown in slide 12, we're doing that through our tri-fold rent growth strategy. We're now also supplementing that with an optimization program that revolves around unlocking recycling capital through selective dispositions. These transactions, both at the suite and portfolio level, have proven the high quality of our portfolio, as we're generating meaningful premiums by selling at prices that are at or above previously reported fair values. We're reallocating those proceeds into the repayment of amounts outstanding on our credit facility and mortgages so that we can enhance our cash flows and fortify eRES's future financial position. We're pleased with the strides that we've made on this initiative so far in 2024, having generated nearly 140 million euro in gross disposition proceeds. We'll continue to dynamically evaluate the net present value of re-letting versus selling, in order to ensure that we are pursuing the best available opportunity to enhance returns. That brings me to our investment highlights on slide 13. I'll wrap up by reiterating that we remain focused on exploring the universe of strategic options available to eREZ, and we're looking forward to furthering our progress in the quarters to come. With that, I would like to thank you for your time this morning, and we would now be pleased to take any questions that you may have.

Absolutely. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If for any reason you would like to remove that question, please press star 2. Again, to ask a question, press star 1. If you're using a speakerphone, please remember to pick up your handset before asking your question. We will pause here briefly to allow questions to register. Again, ladies and gentlemen, that is star 1 if you would like to ask a question. The first question comes from the line at Jimmy Shan with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Thanks. So just in terms of the portfolio sale, I was just curious as to whether you have discussions underway for other portfolio sales we've seen you've just done. Well, I can.

I can report that the market is clearly improving, and I can reiterate my commitment to surface value through all means possible for eRES unit holders. Beyond that, Jimmy, the company has nothing to report at this point.

Okay. Would you say, as some of your European peers are saying, that it seems like values have have come off a little bit. How would you characterize the market overall then?

I would say that the Netherlands, very much like Canada, is working its way through a housing crisis. I think that our unit by unit privatization program is really revealing value to the marketplace. The most active segment of the market would be the family office segment that has traditionally used the strategy of both re-letting and selling units as a means of holding their apartment assets. And that part of the market is definitely showing buoyancy now. The trough, I believe, if interest rates continue on this top, is behind us in terms of valuation.

Okay. And that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from a line of Jonathan culture with TD Cowan. Your line is now open.

thanks uh just continuing on uh jimmy's these questions you said you said the the market slowly opening is that are you seeing that more on the the single unit side or are you are you talking portfolios well there's definitely a market for for single-family homes the again not unlike canada the housing crisis rages on in the netherlands um so there's definitely

An appetite to to buy single-family homes. That's very active right now I'd say the next segment of the market would be similar to what we're seeing in Canada the private office market Where family offices typically held apartment buildings and as part of their strategy sold off individual units. So that market is definitely Making inquiries and starting to show signs of activity there are transactions that are now happening in the Netherlands apartment transactions and but typically they've been going to smaller family offices.

Okay. So similar to what you guys did in July. Yes. All right. Would that be fair?

Okay.

Okay. And then with your sort of optimization strategy, the occupancy dipped down a little bit this quarter. Would you expect that to where does occupancy go from here with you guys holding more and more units offline?

We're definitely not pursuing a strategy of occupancy maximization. When we're selling the units that have gone vacant, typically they require more extensive rehab and therefore You'll see more of a lag between the extent of the renovation and the closing time will just naturally occur more vacancy, but very careful consideration. Obviously, it's given to that premium that we're getting versus NAV to make sure the math just makes sense. But we're not managing the business by occupancy anymore. We're 100% focused on highest and best use of every unit. which will result in slightly higher but not alarming vacancy levels.

Okay. And then just lastly for me on the, and this is I guess more for Jenny, but the debt maturing in 2025, well, two questions, I guess. What would current refinancing rates be? And are the maturities in 2025

uh pretty evenly staggered over over the course of the year or are there any quarters where you have a a big number uh i would say five year money now it's in the low to mid fourth around like four three um and in 2025 maturity it's i would say half in q1 and the other half in q4 okay that's it for me thanks

Thanks, Joanna.

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Brad Sturgis with Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning. Just on the unit privatizations, obviously it ramped up in the Q2. How do you think about the cadence of that program for the balance of the year?

Well, I think we're going to be close to establishing a run rate that looks a little more predictable. Obviously Brad has a lot to do with the units that are privatization viable versus not privatization viable. The unregulated units actually are capturing quite good rents and the highest and best use is definitely re-letting. So a certain amount of it will depend on what the market gives us in terms of turnover. I would just say we need time, a little bit of probably another quarter or two, and we'll be able to establish a run rate that's predictable. That'll give us a full year of kind of privatization activities where we can more steadily predict the kind of volumes you'll see.

And just to go back to your comment about the family office being a little bit more active, I guess given the strategic optionality that you alluded to, does that mean they're more focused on the liberalized segments where there could be more of an opportunity or a premium to convert or to privatize? Or how should we think about where that sort of demand lies when you think about the mix of suites that you own today?

Yeah, no, not necessarily because the unregulated units, again, are providing good rents and the marginal difference isn't really there. It's more the regulated units. But the biggest driver is location and the depth of the market. It's kind of like what we're seeing in Canada. Certain markets are extremely strong on the housing front and other areas like downtown condos, not so much. So it really depends also on location and where that privatization value gap is the largest.

Okay, thanks. I'll turn it back.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Carol Stanley with Adjana's Capital Markets. Your line is now open. Thanks.

Good morning, everyone. Just kind of sticking along the lines of kind of the transaction environment, would you say investors today are looking past maybe some of the regulatory risks that would have been an impediment in the past? Or is it really just a function of the interest rate environment improving so capital is coming back?

That's a great point, Bill. There was maybe not the greatest news on the regulatory front, but at least there's stability now and knowledge of what's going to happen. We didn't think it would be as quick as it was, but Now it's in place, so we know the mid-market effect. So that stability has definitely got capital in a position to deploy. And if you were to ask me what is an interest rate to market that, I would say it's a dead heat in terms of falling rates are also giving way to a more steady path in terms of what's going to be required. But I think we're entering a phase here in the Netherlands where the housing market pricing is really not turning. The regulatory regime is now clear and the interest rate environment is now being viewed as favorable. So I think on all those three fronts, which are really important, we're feeling warmer about the future.

Okay, that makes sense. Maybe just going back to the portfolio transaction in July, just looking for a bit more detail on the assets. If you could, what the cap rate might have been. Would you say higher or lower quality versus portfolio average, more single family versus multifamily? Just trying to get a sense of what's been sold and what's remaining.

There's definitely more single family in the portfolio. That was the marketing process of these buildings isn't like a one week process. It does take time. So what you're seeing revealed in transactions is kind of the work of six months ago. And definitely the easiest units to privatize were single family homes. So the most interest is kind of revolved around single family home portfolio. But I would say Using that one as an example, we're very happy with the pricing that we got there with above NAS, but I would think the pricing is actually improved in that segment even more since.

OK, thank you and then just the last one as we think about the ongoing operations of the rental portfolio, it did look like turnover came in even more this quarter. It looks, I think, like a record low, at least back to 2018. Just wondering what's contributing to that and you know, is it one off or is that kind of the the norm given the housing crisis.

I wouldn't I wouldn't interpret too much into it. We have these anomalies that are somewhat seasonal. I'm glad to see the turnover there, but I wouldn't I wouldn't call it an indicator of anything in particular.

OK, fair enough. I will turn it back. Thanks for that. Thanks.

Thank you. The next question comes from a line of David Crystal with Inham Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Thanks. Good morning, guys. Just on the regulatory side, for kind of modeling purposes, it looks like the mid-rent segment affects a quarter of your portfolio. You've indicated a 3% to 5% total impact over three to five years. Is the best way of looking at this essentially your top line, whatever that kind of top line rent increase you'd get normally would be, just reducing it by, call it 1% a year for the next few years?

Right on. That's exactly the way to look at it.

Okay, perfect.

But I'll complicate the answer slightly by saying if we sell mid-market units, obviously the impact is not as pronounced.

Yeah, yeah, of course. Which does bring me to the next question, which is obviously occupancy dipped. You note that there's 135 suites that are vacant that are likely to be sale candidates. are these mostly single units to be sold to end users or are there any in larger portfolio properties no we have the they're all single unit uh buyers with the exception of the portfolio that we we announced and i don't know if you can comment on it

If they're selling in little blocks, for example, that was your question. The answer is no, that doesn't happen.

No, and I would lead me into the second part, which is are are any any or many of these included in the post quarter dispositions?

Part of the vacancy would be part of that portfolio sale that we did that we announced.

Can can you provide any color on quantity?

Uh. I can get back to you on that.

It's an important point. It is an important point to kind of dig into, though, because clearly the buyers of apartment buildings in the Netherlands will have a privatization strategy. So, A, we have our own issue with units that we're privatizing elevating occupancy or vacancy slightly. And in the event that we tie a property up, the period of time between a property being tied up and closing, it's typical for vendors to want units to be held back and be vacant. And so depending on the length of time between a building being tied up and closing, we can see vacancy creep up in the portfolio, if that makes sense. There is no one executing a strategy that we're aware of that's strictly on uh rental value unless they're unregulated buildings everything else is is really a privatization strategy where people are seeking at the highest and best use of the rental unit whether it be income value or privatization yeah that's and that's essentially where i was going is trying to figure will there be a slight

vacancy drag for a couple of quarters or were the majority of the 135 vacant suites sold post-quarter? Any additional colors appreciated, but I'll turn it back otherwise.

Yeah, it's hard to predict. If we keep going at a steady pace of individual unit sales and smaller portfolio sales at the same size over time, yes, you'll see a very stable number. If we engage in a larger portfolio sale that's dragged in over a longer period of time, then that will start skewing your run rates. So it is extremely hard to predict because we're very open-minded to maximize value through any means possible. And if that means a larger portfolio sale, we would obviously do that. But the math has got to be compelling on the equity side versus the income side. I do understand the struggle here, but as we work through this opportunity phase of getting higher than NAV for buildings until the equity markets are behaving again in a favorable way to valuation, then it's going to be difficult to run rate it.

Okay. Appreciate that, Collier. Thanks.

You're welcome.

Thank you. Again, ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you find a question, press on the line of Dave Wilkinson with VIBC. Your line is now open.

Thanks, Anne. Good morning. I'd just like to talk a little bit about supply, Mark. Are you finding that it's as hard or maybe harder to build in the Netherlands as it has become recently?

in canada um just given the similarities between the two markets welcome to the western world the problem is everywhere their issues are no different um you know wage inflation regulatory intervention um you name it dean uh it's it's really no different you've got canada with a different flag and and many would argue the problem is even worse

Wow. Share the pain. So when you look at an IFRS NAV, 230,000, give or take, euros door, how would that compare to, say, replacement value if you could even replace the portfolio today?

I wouldn't want to blurt something out. We have typically used that less than half of replacement cost guidelines for Canada. I would want to check, Dean, Like I said, the two countries are very similar.

Yeah, I know. Read into that, kind of what I will, and I kind of land on the same numbers. It's good to own stuff. That's all I got. Thanks, Mark.

Thanks so much.

Thank you. There are no additional questions waiting at this time, so I would now like to pass the conference back to management for any closing remarks.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you to everyone for joining us this morning. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of us at any time. Thank you again and have a great day.

That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.