Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (MAA)
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Earnings Call: Q1 2021

Apr 29, 2021

Speaker 1

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the MAA First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen only mode. Afterwards, the company will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, This conference call is being recorded today, April 29, 2021. I will now turn the call over to Tim Argo, Senior Vice President of Finance of M and A or MAA for opening comments.

Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Christy, and good morning, everyone. This is Tim Argo, Senior Vice President of Finance for MAA. With me are Eric Bolton, our CEO Al Campbell, our CFO Rob Del Priore, our General Counsel Tom Grimes, our COO and Brad Hill, our Head of Transactions. Before we begin with our prepared comments this morning, I would like to point out that as part of the 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 statements section in yesterday's earnings release and our 34 Act filings with the SEC, which These reports along with a copy of today's prepared comments and an audio copy of this morning's call will be available on our website. 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, which are available on the For Investors page of our website at www.maac.com. I'll now turn the call over to Eric.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Tim, and good morning. We are encouraged with the solid start to the year as core FFO results were well ahead of our expectations. A recovery in rent growth is clearly getting started. Our overall blended rents on a lease over lease basis are running slightly ahead of Last year and our forecast is for continued improvement. A combination of the recovery within the Sunbelt economies that is just starting to build, Coupled with the continued migration of employers and jobs to this region are driving higher level of demand across our portfolio.

We like the trends that we're seeing as we head into the important summer leasing season. Our teams are off to a strong start this with our unit interior redevelopment program, the rollout of our smart home technology platform, as well as several new projects aimed at full repositioning of communities to higher price points. We're excited about the upside in rent growth to capture from all three of these programs. It was about this time last year when we hit the pause button on these projects in order to protect and staff during the initial months of COVID and we expect to make solid progress this year. Our new development platform continues to expand and We're excited to have closed this month on our first opportunity in the Salt Lake City market.

We see continued strong job growth and positive migration trends to this market and look forward to expanding our presence there. Supported by our strong balance sheet And growing demand for apartment housing across our Sunbelt markets, we believe we are poised to capture increasing earnings contribution from our development pipeline over the next few years. As the sub belt market economies begin to reopen, It seems clear that based on the trends that we're seeing that the worst of the pressures associated with COVID are behind us. MAA's unique approach to diversifying across the Sunbelt has clearly worked to soften some of the pressures surrounding the recession and the slowdown in leasing over the past few quarters. However, we're frankly more excited about the that we have to capture and redevelopment within our existing portfolio, higher efficiencies we expect to harvest from several new technology initiatives, And finally, a growing impact from our external growth pipeline all combined to put MAA in a solid position for the coming recovery cycle.

In closing, I want to thank our team of associates for their hard work and efforts to serve our residents this past quarter With a special nod to our team in Texas who worked through the winter storm and freezing temperatures in February, your commitment to our mission of serving those who Our company is much appreciated. Tom?

Speaker 4

Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. The recovery continued across the portfolio for the first Leasing volume for the quarter was up 16%. This drove blended pricing achieved during the quarter up 2.7%. This is even with the very strong start we had in the Q1 of 2020 and up 200 basis points from the 4th quarter. In addition, we were able to maintain strong average daily occupancy of 95.7 and all in place rents or effective rent growth on a year over year basis improved to 1.3% in the Q1.

Collections during the quarter were strong. We collected 99.1% build rent in the 1st quarter. We've worked diligently to identify and support those who need help because of COVID-nineteen. The number of those seeking assistance has dropped over time. In April of last year, we had 5,600 residents on relief plans.

The number of participants has decreased to just 325 for the April of this year rental assistance plan. This represents only 20 basis points of April build rent. We saw steady interest in our product upgrade initiatives. We're off to a strong start for the year on We completed 964 redevelopment units and 13,975 smart home packages. For the full year of 2021, we expect to complete just over 6,000 interior unit upgrades and install 22,000 smart home packages.

April's collections are in line with the good results we saw in the Q1. As of April 27, we've collected 98.7% Rent build, which is at least 10 basis points ahead of each of the comparable numbers for January, February March of this year. Leasing activity for April is strong. New lease over lease pricing in April is running close to 4% of rent on the prior On prior lease, renewal lease pricing in April is running 6.5% ahead of the prior lease. Our resident satisfaction scores remain strong and are actually ahead of last year by 120 basis points, which should support continued strong renewal lease pricing.

We still have a few down units in April as a result of the winter storm and including the impact of those average daily occupancy for the month April is currently 96.1%, which is 100 basis points better than April of last year. Exposure, which is all vacant units plus notices through a 60 day period is just 7.2%. This is 180 basis points Better than the prior year and supports our ability to continue to prioritize a focus on rent growth. We are well positioned as we move into our busy leasing season, led by job growth, which is expected to increase 4.9% in 2021 versus the negative 5% in 2020 for our markets, We expect to see the broad recovery in our region of the country continue. We expect Phoenix, Tampa, Raleigh and Jacksonville We are strongest markets and expect Houston, Orlando and DC to recover, but at a slower rate.

I would like To echo Eric's comments and thank our teams as well, they've shown tremendous adaptability and resilience over the last year. I'm proud of them and excited about their strong

Speaker 5

within our region of the country remains strong. However, a lack of properties for sale is causing a supply demand imbalance that continues to drive already aggressive pricing. This robust investor demand supported by continued low interest rates has further compressed cap rates, which are frequently in the mid-three percent and low-four percent range for high quality properties in desirable locations within our markets. Transaction cap rates on closed projects That we underwrote were down 25 basis points from last quarter and down 50 basis points from Q1 of 2020. We remain active in the transaction market, but as outlined in our guidance, we are not forecasting executing on any acquisitions of existing communities between now year end.

While acquiring existing assets is a challenge, we continue to make progress on the expansion of our development pipeline. As noted in our release, we closed on 2 land parcels in April as part of our prepurchase program where we partner with 3rd party developers. We expect to start construction on both of these projects in the second quarter. Our Atlanta project is a 5 story mid rise development located along the Beltline extension in the West Midtown area of Atlanta, Less than 2 miles from Microsoft's recently announced campus. We also closed on a 4 story surface park project in the Daybreak master plan community of Salt Lake City, one of the top five master plan communities in the United States.

We are excited to expand our footprint into Salt A market that shares many of the attributes that characterize our overall footprint, good job growth, great migration trends and a highly educated workforce. In addition to these two projects, we have several other project or development sites within our footprint owned or under contract that we hope to start construction on later this year and into next year. We have seen material run up in construction costs and specifically lumber, but our construction team as well as Partners have done a good job helping us to mitigate some of this increase. We continue to see some supply chain disruptions on appliances, cabinets, windows and other items, But on the majority of our projects, we've been able to work around these issues with minimal impact to our delivery schedules. We continue to see strong leasing demand in our region of the Country and our 2 lease up properties in Dallas and Fort Worth as well as our under construction property in Phoenix all continue to perform very well With rents and leasing velocity in line with or ahead of our pre COVID expectations.

As part of our planned dispositions for 2021, we took our Jackson, Mississippi to market in the Q1 and received very strong investor interest with the strongest bidding coming from portfolio buyers wanting all four properties. The properties we currently the properties are currently under contract with our buyers inspection period ending soon. We expect this transaction to close in the 3rd We are also on track to execute on the remainder of our 2021 disposition plan in the 4th quarter. Our view of new supply remains unchanged with the expectation that 2021 looks very similar to 2020. Based on 2020's permitting

Speaker 6

Thank you, Brad, and good morning, everyone. Core FFO per share performance of $1.64 for the Q1 was $0.05 per share ahead of the midpoint of As expected, operating trends continue to improve through the quarter, producing same store revenue and NOI performance that was slightly ahead of our forecast, providing about a $0.01 per share of favorability for the quarter. We continue to expect stable occupancy and strong pricing trends to have a growing impact on effective rents over the remainder of the year. Keep in mind that only about 20% of our leases were effective in the Q1 and we still have the majority of our leases to be signed during the summer leasing season in the second and third quarter.

Speaker 4

The remaining favorability came from overhead

Speaker 6

and interest expense, which were both lower than projections for the quarter. So overhead costs are expected to grow more in line with our original projections As the year progresses, as our travel and other activities move toward more normalized levels. Winter storm Yuri impacted a portion of our portfolio during the quarter. Usually cold temperature and electrical outages led to frozen pipes and damage in a number of our Texas communities. Our operating teams worked hard to take care of our residents and get affected units back online quickly.

We incurred some casualty losses during the Q1 related to the storm, established a receivable for the vast majority of the costs which are expected to be reimbursed through insurance coverage. Net earnings impact to MAA during the quarter was only about $765,000 primarily related to down units. Our balance sheet remains in great shape. During the quarter, we paid off the $118,000,000 of secured mortgages at an expiring rate of 5.1%. We also funded an additional $64,000,000 of cost toward completion of our development pipeline, which at quarter end included 7 communities with total projected cost of $528,000,000 of which $193,000,000 remains to be funded.

As Brad mentioned, we acquired 2 land parcels in April as part of pre purchase development deals We should begin construction later this year. And as discussed previously, we expect our development pipeline to grow to around $800,000,000 by year end, which is well within our development tolerance limits. As Tom mentioned, we also continue to make good progress during the quarter on our 3 internal investment programs, interior redevelopment, We funded a total of $22,700,000 toward these programs during the Q1, which are expected to begin contributing to our growth more strongly in late 2021 2022. We ended the quarter with low leverage, debt to EBITDA only 4.9 times and with $644,000,000 of combined cash and borrowing capacity under our line of credit. And finally, in order to reflect the Q1 earnings We increased our full year guidance range for core FFO by $0.05 to a range of $6.35 to $6.65 per share.

Our same store performance Trends were essentially in line with our forecast and we expect pricing trends to continue to improve over the remainder of the year with the most favorable prior year revenue comparisons coming in the second quarter Due to the initial impact of COVID-nineteen last year, we plan to revisit guidance after the Q2 when we'll have more clarity on several key assumptions.

Speaker 4

So that's all we have in the

Speaker 3

Christie, are you there?

Speaker 7

First question is from John Kim with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Thank you. On your effective lease rates, they were growing steadily throughout Each month in the Q1 and it sounds like April is coming in at 5%. How does that compare to your original projections when you came up with guidance for the year?

Speaker 5

Yes, John, this is Al. I think Tim and

Speaker 6

I can both tag team on this one. But I think as we talked about, we had expected to have strong pricing trends in our forecast for the year. And if you take our pricing expectations are built in our forecast, it's somewhere around 2.5% blended for the full year. And I think if you Take a look at what happened last year, which was about 1.3% pricing. You add what we expect this year, which would be which in terms of revenue, you add about half That production and you can blend those 2 together and come up with a 2% bid point that we have in our overall revenue.

So we're certainly encouraged by the trends that we see in the pricing that Tom But remember, as we talked about, we've only had about 20% of our leases effective now and we've got a lot of leases to come in the second, third quarter. So a long way to go yet and we'll take another look at that

Speaker 2

in the second And we did plan for a return to sort of normal seasonality. So we expected it to be accelerating during this time Kind of move call it January through July to be accelerating then start to trend back down a little bit with normal seasonality.

Speaker 8

So is the April data, is that coming off an easier comp from last year? And you expect that to trend down Sorry, but with seasonality high in the second, third quarter, do

Speaker 9

you expect it to be

Speaker 2

Certainly on new leases April was kind of the 1st month last We saw the weakness. So we're getting some good comparability there, but we would expect it to Continue to grow from there and kind of return to that seasonality. So I think to Hal's point, it's certainly encouraging with the trends we're seeing and we'll see how it plays out over the

Speaker 8

My second question is on the prepurchase development program. What are the initial Stabilized cap rates that you expect to have from that program and how does that compare to the development yield?

Speaker 4

Yes. John, this is

Speaker 5

Brad. So our pre purchase yields are generally in With our overall development expectations, so there's really no difference in yields between those two platforms. But I will say, The deals that we have, the 7 deals on the books right now, those are generally yielding about 6%. We have seen some pressure To construction costs, obviously, there's a lot of publications about that, but we would expect around a 10% to 20%, not 20 basis points reduction in costs associated with that. But that's somewhat offset by if you just look broadly at our In our region of the country, rents continue to do very, very well.

So we expect some of that increase in cost and the impact there to be offset by What we expect rents to do within our region.

Speaker 9

Thank you. Thanks, John.

Speaker 7

Thank you. The next Questions from Brad Heffern with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Hey, good morning, everyone. Just following up on the April lease numbers again. Is the differential between the renewals and the new leases about what you would expect it to be in sort of a normal market for this time of year? Or is there still some COVID impact that's hitting those numbers?

Speaker 4

Yes, that is Brad, it's Saum. If things are looking pretty normal and we would expect To have that gap between new lease and renewal rate at this point in time, it's widest in the winter and then it begins to narrow and tighten in the summer. Okay, got

Speaker 10

it. And then sort of philosophically, I mean, it's been a long, long time since MAA has done any equity issuance. I'm curious with the market sort of implying a lower cost of equity at this point, Whether you'd ever think it would make sense to raise money and maybe accelerate development or maybe if you found attractive acquisition opportunities or Will you continue to sort of just recycle capital and use the cash generated by the business?

Speaker 5

Brad, this is Eric.

Speaker 3

At the moment, we believe that the pace under which we're able to find opportunity and deploy capital coupled with the asset sales that We're going to continue to progress on. We don't see a need for equity. I think it's obviously something we continue to monitor. If the acquisition market began to change in some fashion, they really yielded a lot more James, we have that and the capacity we have on the balance sheet that we like where we are and don't feel a need to tap the equity markets.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank

Speaker 7

you. And the next question is from Austin Wurschmidt with KeyBanc. Please go ahead.

Speaker 11

Hi, good morning everybody. Somewhat to the last question, I mean recognizing that competition for assets It's really strong and cap rates are low. But given some of the growth you're seeing and the strength in sort of the economic recovery here, Have you considered changing your underwriting and getting a little bit more aggressive in growth in Some of the acquisition deals that you're taking a look at?

Speaker 3

Well, I mean, we certainly Austin, this is Eric. I mean, We constantly challenge our thinking a bit on our underwriting and make sure that we're being As realistic as we can be and what we expect rent growth to do. And I think that at the end of the day, we're looking at adding stabilized yields to our portfolio that We'll increase the overall earnings potential of the portfolio long term. And I think that right now what we see happening on the acquisition side frankly Requires a level of reach and a level of assumption for a very long period of time that we just don't We have a hard time sort of getting comfortable with. We can make the numbers work on both the prepurchase program And on the new development, certainly, it's dilution associated with the lease up and the construction process There, but once those assets get fully stabilized, I mean, the yield is there pretty quick.

On the acquisition front, I think right now, frankly, you would have to be comfortable with, I believe, a level of dilution that Is longer frankly than what we're able to do on the development front and prepurchase front. Yes. We think we're pushing it in terms of assumptions about as hard as we should. And beyond what we're doing right now Would require a level of reach that frankly we're just not comfortable with.

Speaker 12

Understood. I appreciate the thoughts. And then just

Speaker 11

going back to guidance, I mean, we touched on lease rates a bit. And given how strong they've been, it sounds like occupancy is also continuing to ramp into April. So can you just kind of walk through the assumptions there for the back half of the year and how you're thinking that trends, How occupancy trends through the balance of the year?

Speaker 2

Yes. So occupancy going into the year, we dialed in about a 10 basis point drop in occupancy Compared to last year as we focused on pushing pricing, so somewhere around 95.5%, 95.6% or so. So kind of given where Q1 was and where we stand right now, we feel good about that. So we'd expect that to be pretty steady. And again, focus given

Speaker 7

The next question is from Amanda Switzer with Baird. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thanks. Good

Speaker 13

morning. Your revenue growth recently has been boosted by some of your smaller markets. Are there any differences between rent to income metrics in those markets relative to the larger markets or anything else that would impact your ability to you push in those large rent increases going forward?

Speaker 4

No, Amanda. The rent to income Our small market is right, small markets is in line with those larger markets. So We feel like the opportunity is we'll continue there, not worried about that at all.

Speaker 13

Okay. And then It's relatively small dollars, but you had another double digit increase in marketing expenses this quarter. Is that being caused by competitive new supply or driven by any Pacific market and do you expect similar rates of increase going forward?

Speaker 4

Yes. And I think on expenses for the year, we'll see this. There's a little bit of variability in prior year comparisons, but for the full year marketing will be at or below 3 And it's a combination of things. It is both our lead generating activities, but some of the pressure this Some of the expense in this quarter was bringing online some new tools as it relates to Online lead nurturing in our call center solutions, which are helping keep our which will help keep our personnel costs flat for the year.

Speaker 13

Okay. Thanks. Appreciate the time.

Speaker 4

You bet. Thank you.

Speaker 7

Next question is from Alex Kalmus with Zelman and Associates.

Speaker 14

Looking at move ins from out of state, what did that percentage Look like in the Q1 and how is that trending versus history? I believe last quarter was 12.2% and was at the highest rate. So Curious to how that's trending?

Speaker 4

Yes, that's continued on. It's right at the same percentage and that Trend is up from we've been tracking that for a couple of years. Low point was in Q1 of 2019 where it was 9.2. So it's about still about a 290 basis point increase or so. And that trend is continuing.

Speaker 3

And I would add, Alex, this is Eric, that's at a portfolio level. And Some of our secondary markets, it tends to be a little bit below that average, whereas you start to look at some of the markets like Austin, Phoenix, Raleigh, some of the markets that are more likely To be benefiting from some of the migration out of California and places like that, it tends to be a little bit higher. As an example, in the Q1, Our move ins from out of state in Phoenix were double that number, over 24% of our move ins in Phoenix in the first Quarter came from out of state.

Speaker 14

Got it. Thank you for the color. And another just question on the development. So the yields are around 6%. What is the spread versus a traditional cap rate on acquisitions today?

And Is that similar spread as historical or has that spread gotten tighter or expanded because of what we're seeing in the acquisition market?

Speaker 5

Yes, Alex, I would say the spread is 100 basis points, 150 basis points on average. And given just The amount of capital that's looking for acquisitions right now and how that's driven down, the cap rates and yields on acquisitions and Certainly, development has been impacted a little bit by construction costs, but I would say in my as I said in my opening comments, cap rates are Down 50 basis points year over year. So I would say the spread has probably gotten a little bit bigger given how much the yields on existing acquisitions Have compressed.

Speaker 14

Great. Thank you.

Speaker 7

And the next question is from Neil Molchan with Capital One Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 15

Hello, everyone. Good morning. First question, bigger picture question, Eric, maybe for you. When you think about Your the Sunbelt markets and how clearly you guys are going to get a bigger portion of the pie of existing and then future employees with all the Corporate relocations, etcetera. When you look at your multiple growth drivers, lower balance sheet, and where cap rates are trading in the market, I mean, is it fair to say that You guys are undervalued even at current levels and really there should be a rerating, particularly across Sunbelt markets and in a portfolio like yours?

Speaker 3

Well, Neil, I do think that at least from what we see The dynamics that are sort of driving job growth and ultimately our ability to drive rent growth As compared to the non Sunbelt markets, I think that that overall sort of dynamic has clearly Begun to shift and that shift was underway certainly somewhat prior to COVID and as much has been reported That would suggest to me that the demand dynamics and the driver of rent growth dynamics For Sunbelt versus non Sunbelt, I think it's a new day in that regard. The second thing I would tell you is That I think cap rates have begun to adjust a bit in terms of how Real estate is being priced in gateway versus Sunbelt markets. I think for many, many years That a lot of investor demand really drove Cap rates down in a lot of these gateway markets, particularly a lot of international capital that frankly was More familiar with and more knowledgeable of some of these bigger gateway markets. I think again, the last few years, particularly the past year has begun to, I think open eyes in the investment community a bit about the shifts that are going on in the U.

S. Regarding job growth and population trends and taxes and all the other sort of factors that continue to favor the Sunbelt. And I think International Capital is also paying attention to that. And I think as a consequence of that, I think the historic delta between cap rates For gateway versus non gateway markets, I think that those cap rates have compressed certainly today. And I think they will remain more compressed or that gap will be more So I think there is some logic to what you're saying for both of those reasons.

And I think the next Few years will tell a lot about how these companies are able to perform, the platforms are able to perform And how investor appetite continues to evolve. And I do think that there is some logic to what you used to think about 5 or 6 years ago in terms of pricing of real estate in Sunbelt markets versus where you should be pricing it today on a relative basis to non Sunbelt, it's a different day.

Speaker 15

Yes, I totally agree. It's a great day. Next question is about the operating side. A lot of, I think recent conversations about technology and how that's shaping kind of the new wave of sort of institutional Asset Management, Property Management. Can you just kind of talk about what technology looks like for you guys and how you Think about it, say, over the next 3 years in terms of implementing enhancements to the revenue process revenue maximization, I mean.

And then on the expense side, just like with how you think leasing is going to be, property level, headcount, Anything along those lines would be really interesting and I think something that we need to be on the lookout for over the next couple of years.

Speaker 4

Neil, I'll kind of give you a high level overview and you're correct. I mean, there's a transformation underway in our business. Currently, what we have rolling is an expanded call center solution is out and that allowed us to make some staffing Headcount reduction changes about how leasing phone calls are handled on-site. We've also deployed lead nurturing software, Which is automated prospect engagement technology, so that interacts with the prospects earlier in the sales process and automates the follow ups. We've upgraded the virtual touring.

We've implemented mobile inspections, which really makes it a lot Clear to the residents, the condition of their apartment when they move in and then clearly documents The deficiencies if they move out that's helped us with speed of inspection as well as clarity on billing And resident satisfaction, we're midway through deploying our mobile maintenance solution, which will give us some efficiency on that side of the business. We're also what's coming next is improved. I mean, we've got self touring, but automating that process. We've got some tests ongoing with improved multi location sales support covering 1 property from another one. And I would expect The things we have underway right now built into the 2021 budget is 30 positions are about 3% of our office staff.

This will be handled through attrition. And then I would expect through attrition and automation, we see another 30 to 50 headcount reduction in 2022.

Speaker 15

Okay. So you're saying 30 this year and then 30 to 50 next year?

Speaker 4

Yes. At this point, it's an evolving process.

Speaker 14

Sure, sure.

Speaker 15

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Speaker 7

Thank you. Our next question is from John Pawlowski with Green Street. Please go ahead.

Speaker 12

Thanks. Brad, one follow-up on your comments on the yield compression on development. 20 basis points yield compression, is that on projects that you already started or about to start or is that on kind of new land you're currently

Speaker 5

Yes, that's all new, John. So the projects that we have under construction right now, those are intact. No impact on construction costs or anything like that. Those are locked in when we start construction. Those returns and rents And Lisa, as I made a point in my comments are all on schedule.

So those are intact. So my reference really was to the impact of costs Related to new starts that we would have today and new underwritings that we have today on the development side.

Speaker 12

Okay. And as these construction cost pressures continue to improve more structural and less transient and you have the Supply chain bottlenecks continuing. Do you sense that it will be finally enough to break the fever on starts So if we're talking this time next year or probably not given the spread to cap rates?

Speaker 3

John, this is Eric. I certainly hope so. But I don't know, I'm skeptical that certainly that the pressures that we've seen thus far Are sufficient to have any meaningful impact to slowing the interest level On development at the moment, because of the fact that we are seeing the demand growth and the rent growth opportunity Continue to improve and get stronger and I think that's fueling a level of tolerance and Optimism on the underwriting side and the ability to withstand some level of cost increase. Well, I think that you could see that And the other thing I would also add, as long as cap rates continue to remain as low as they are, providing the developer the opportunity to Today's cap rate environment, I think that again that supports at some level the ability to withstand some increase in cost. One of the things though that we're beginning to see increasingly affect development more than anything other than land costs It's just the permitting and zoning processes are getting increasingly difficult.

And I think that as we continue to Some of these Sunbelt markets facing much in population growth and demand growth and some of these I think you may see a little bit more stringent behavior out of some of the Local governments and zoning and permitting folks to be a little bit more restrictive than they have been in the past. And I think that probably as much as anything else may start to moderate things. I'm comfortable that with all the things that I just went through That is likely that supply is not likely to materially increase in the levels that we see happening right now. I think the pipelines are full and there's just too much pressure at this point to see any material increase in supply pressure, But I think we're a ways away from seeing any material decline in pressure.

Speaker 12

Understood. Final question for me, Al, you You mentioned the down units in Texas. Could you give us a sense for just kind of the revenue impact these coming months or quarters From these down units acknowledging it's small in the grand scheme of things?

Speaker 6

I'll just start with that and I think Tom can answer that. I think what we'd say is, teams as we talked about Teams worked very hard to get the best majority of those units online quickly. And I'd say as we get through the end of April, we have a very few left, only a handful of units that are down. So overall, you've seen what I've talked about in my comments, the impact you've seen majority of that impact in the Q1 already, John. A little bit will trail, but most of that been handled.

Let me tell you if you want.

Speaker 4

Yes. No, John, we had a total of 251 down as a result of the freeze, 107 of those are already back up And remainder will be up shortly. We had a lot more with damage, but the teams were able to service those units without generating turnover in it. They didn't go to downstairs.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank you.

Speaker 7

And our next question comes from Nick Yulico with

Speaker 9

Two questions. First on the concession impact to your Portfolio currently, I don't think you break that out unless I missed it. Can you just give us a feel for concessions, how much they're impacting Your effective rents right now and kind of your assumption about how if you get a benefit from removing those concessions, how that helps Rental pricing later this year, how are you thinking about that?

Speaker 4

Yes, Nick, I'll give you a quick overview. And we as you know, we price on a net effective basis. So concessions are really only used when the immediate comps in some market are using them. And our concessions are in the lease over lease rates that we share with But where we're doing it, concessions for the same store group peaked in Q3 of this year at 1.2% of net potential And it's dropped to just 80 basis points of net potential for the Q1 of this year. So that's just sort of following this general trend of an Improved pricing power.

Speaker 2

I'll add to that real quick, Nick. Our same store revenue results, the way we reported includes those being spread Over the life of the lease.

Speaker 9

Okay, great. Thank you. Just my other question was In migration to your markets, you have cited this in the past, you gave some data. I don't think you gave an update today. But in terms of move in benefit From sort of outside of your markets, people coming to your portfolio from coastal areas, etcetera.

You also gave some stats in the past about Searches for rentals in cities such as Atlanta. So I guess I'm just wondering if you have an update on that. And also whether that benefit has Change at all because obviously we're starting to see some improvement in occupancy in coastal markets. So just trying to understand how that's impacting your portfolio.

Speaker 4

The trend is continued. It was in 2019, it was 9.2% of our movements from around the market. It's moved up to 12.01 on the Q1. That's about where it was for the Q4. And then we're still seeing the High demand of search rates and as Eric pointed out earlier, that's at a portfolio level read, and some of our secondary markets A little less of that in migration in place, for instance, a place like Phoenix, it was double that rate of in migration from out of Irium.

So very much That trend is very much alive and a big part of the bright future of the Sunbelt.

Speaker 15

Great. Thank you, everyone.

Speaker 7

And our next question is from Nick Joseph with Citi. Please go ahead.

Speaker 16

Thanks. How are you thinking about the further build out of Salt Lake City and how large could that market become?

Speaker 5

Hey, Nick, this is Brad. As we said when we first started looking at Salt Lake, for operational efficiencies, we'd like to get that market To call it 6 to 8 projects in the first stage for us given just the dynamics of Salt Lake City is To go in there and partner with a developer who has a presence there and an ability to quickly add through 2 or 3, 4 projects and then the next phase will be trying to buy through acquisitions with the Final step being our development team perhaps coming in there and building from the ground up. So we're well underway with that. With a new project that we have announced there, we as I said, we have a development partner that we're partnered with there that has A partner in the market, so they're actively looking and evaluating new sites and we're hopeful that we can quickly Add to our presence there.

Speaker 16

Are there any other deals currently in the pipeline?

Speaker 5

Not for Salt Lake City, no. There's one land site that Is currently under LOI, but there's not one that's imminent at the moment.

Speaker 16

Thanks. And then are there any other new market entries expected

Speaker 3

Nick, this is Eric. Nothing specific. I mean, we continue to Look at opportunities in some other markets, but at the moment beyond what Brad just mentioned, we're Some land sites in Tampa. We have we're controlling a land site in the Research Triangle In the Raleigh Durham area at the moment, we've got another couple of sites in Denver that we're working, It's still all within our same footprint at the moment.

Speaker 9

Thank you.

Speaker 7

And the next question is from Rob Stevenson with Janney. Please go ahead.

Speaker 17

Good morning, guys. Just a follow-up, I mean, how many projects other than the 2 that you guys brought on the land deals do you expect to start in 2021 this year from a development standpoint?

Speaker 5

Rob, this is Brad. We have 2 that we're hopeful we can start this year. But again, those are in due diligence. So obviously anything can happen at any point in time with those, but that's at this point what we're working toward. As we mentioned, we do have other sites under control and under contract, but those are more likely 2022 starts.

Speaker 3

We've got a 27 Acre site in Denver, an area called Central Park, East of the airport area that we are currently doing pre development on and we would hope to be able to start that late this year, the Phase 1, it will be a 3 phase project, so it will be a big project for us. So we're hopeful we can get that one started late this year. In addition to the 2, Brad mentioned In Salt Lake and in the new one in Atlanta.

Speaker 17

And what's the rough construction costs expected on the 2 that you're about to start here?

Speaker 5

So, let's see.

Speaker 9

We've got it right here.

Speaker 5

Yes, Salt Lake City, the project is,

Speaker 2

I think it's $94,000,000

Speaker 5

Right around $90,000,000 for Salt Lake City, dollars 94,000 for West Midtown.

Speaker 17

Okay. And so you're going to have the Arizona project delivering here. And so that will come out. You will replace that with 2 other projects. And so at least temporarily So you get the back half of the year and you start to deliver more of the other ones, your pipeline will go up to somewhere in the neighborhood of about $600,000,000 It's the way to think about it.

Speaker 6

Well, I think we talked about, Rob, it's Paul that may have got there. But what I would say As I talked about a bit in the call, we would expect once we start these, the deals that are talked about and a couple that are possible, we kind of put in Potential starts as Eric talked about for the rest of the year beyond what Brad's talking about. And we could see easily our pipeline getting to what's committed, what's projects Total cost was underway being about $800,000 or so by year end. 1,000,000 Excuse me, dollars 1,000,000. Yes, big difference.

Sorry about that. Split a couple of numbers there, but 8 1,000,000 or so. And that's certainly well within the tolerance range that we've talked about in the past. So that's what we're expecting.

Speaker 17

Okay. And then, Al, what's the ongoing cost from the high speed bulk cable package? You guys noted in the release that it's 80 basis points hit Same store expense growth mean how does how far into the future does that continue? When does that start to really sort of Burn down or runoff, etcetera?

Speaker 6

I'll let Tim give you the details on that. We'll get pretty close to the end though, Rob.

Speaker 2

Yes. I think for the full year, We're expecting that to be, call it, 70 basis points of expense impact in 2021. And certainly we're getting revenue impact It will have a little bit of outsized impact in next year, but not to the level of 70. And then I think as we get to 20 20 3, it becomes just sort of a normal line item, if you will.

Speaker 17

Okay. And then last one for me. Tom, any markets Stronger or weaker than you guys had expected thus far in 2021?

Speaker 4

Yes, I would I mean On the stronger side, I would put Orlando in that bucket. They were on my little bit of As far as the shift in blended pricing from Q1 to from Q4 to Q1, They're up like 4.30 basis points on a blended pricing basis and it is good to see Orlando catch its gear again. The theme Disney opened their last 2 theme parks maybe, it was a month ago and Really the feedback we're getting is that's brought hospitality back and restaurant is back and it is moving along again. Very encouraging to see the improvement in Orlando.

Speaker 17

And anything weaker than you expected thus far?

Speaker 4

No, the push forward has been pretty positive. I mean, we're still worried about DC and Houston. They're recovering, but at a slower pace. Okay. Thanks guys.

You bet.

Speaker 7

It appears we have no further questions. I'll return the floor to our presenters for any closing remarks.

Speaker 3

Okay. Well, thanks everyone for joining us this morning. And obviously, if you have any

Speaker 7

may now disconnect. Have a great day.

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