InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust

we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Wednesday, August 7th, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Renee Wei. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining Interim Reads Q2 2024 earnings call. My name is Renee Wei, Director of Investor Relations and Sustainability. You can find the presentation to accompany today's call on the investor relations section of our website under events and presentations. We're pleased to have Brad Cutzee, President and CEO, Kurt Miller, CFO, and David Nivens, COO on the line today. As usual, the team will present some prepared remarks and then we'll open it up to questions. Before we begin, I want to remind listeners that certain statements about future events made on this conference call are forward-looking in nature. Any such information is subject to risk, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially. For more information, please refer to the Cautionary Statements on Forward-Looking Information in the Reeds News Release and MD&A dated August 6, 2024. During the call, management will also refer to certain non-IFRS measures. Although the REIT believes these measures provide useful supplemental information about its financial performance, they are not recognized measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Please see the REIT's MD&A for additional information regarding non-IFRS financial measures, including reconciliations to the nearest IFRS measures. Brad, over to you.

Thanks, Renee, and welcome, everyone. We are pleased to build on our momentum and deliver another quarter of strong financial and operating results. Demand for a quality community has remained elevated across our markets, with occupancy rates increasing year-over-year to 96.2% for both same-property and total portfolios, right in Interent's optimal range of 96-97%. Rental rates continue to show strong growth this quarter, with an 8.4% increase for the total portfolio and 6.8% for the same-property portfolio. We're seeing solid performance in both AMR and occupancy across all regions. David will provide more detailed regional insights later in the call. Over to slide six. Strong AMR increase and high occupancy rates drove solid top line growth. Total portfolio revenue growth for Q2 was 4.8%, which was impacted by dispositions during the quarter. For the same property portfolio, revenue increased by 7.6% while operating expenses rose by a more moderate 3.3%, leading to 130 basis point expansion in NOI margin over the same period last year, reaching 67.7%. Same property on the line for Q2 was $40.6 million, marking an increase of 9.7%. As highlighted on the right hand of the slide, we achieved outside FFO and AFFO growth, both on a total and per unit basis. Our FFO on Q2 increased by 17.9% to $23.1 million, representing a 17.2% increase to $0.157 on a per unit basis. We delivered $20.4 million in AFSO, or $0.138 per unit, reflecting an increase of 20.9% and 19% respectively. This growth was driven primarily by increased NOI and reduced financing costs. This impressive growth was partially offset by dispositions having a negative impact of $0.03 for the three months ended June 30th. On a 12-month basis, year-to-date dispositions have had an FFO per unit contribution of 3.5 cents. Over to slide 7. We kept our variable rate exposure, including credit facilities, at low 1% as compared to 8.4% at the same period last year. With the successful execution of our refinancing strategy, we're now seeing a tailwind with weighted average interest rates decreasing by 6 basis points year-over-year to 3.37%, benefiting our financing costs. Our balance sheet is solid and flexible with sufficient liquidity from disposition proceeds, credit facilities, and unencumbered assets. We are well positioned to advance our capital allocation priorities, including external growth opportunities. You will hear more details on that front later in the call. But first, Dave will take us through some of the operating highlights.