Michael D. Lacy
Thanks, Tom. Today, I'll cover the following topics: our second; quarter same-store results, our improved full year 2025 same-store growth guidance, including underlying assumptions, and expectations for operating trends across our regions. To begin, second quarter year-over-year same-store revenue and NOI growth of 2.5% and 2.9%, respectively, were better than expected and were driven by: first, 2.8% blended lease rate growth, which was a result of renewal rate growth of 5% and new lease rate growth of positive 30 basis points. Our blends accelerated 190 basis points compared to the first quarter, which is 70 basis points higher than our historical sequential acceleration between the first quarter and second quarter. As a result, our first half blended lease rate growth of 2% was 20 basis points above the high end of our guidance range. Second, annualized resident turnover was 420 basis points below the prior year period and more than 1,100 basis points better than our second quarter average over the last 10 years. This enabled us to accelerate renewal rate growth, which led to more favorable blended lease rate growth. Third, occupancy averaged 96.9%, which was 30 basis points higher than our historical second quarter average. Our strategic decision to build occupancy during the seasonally slower leasing period of the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 put us in a position of strength to drive revenue and NOI outperformance to start the year. And fourth, income growth from rentable items was 10%, driven by continued innovation, along with the delivery of value-add services to our residents. Shifting to expenses. Year-over-year same-store expense growth of only 1.7% in the second quarter came in much better than expectations. These positive results were primarily driven by favorable real estate taxes and insurance savings, which collectively account for nearly 45% of total expenses. Based on our year-to-date results, we raised our full year 2025 same-store growth guidance in conjunction with yesterday's release. Starting with same-store revenue growth, we raised our midpoint by 25 basis points, resulting in a new range of 1.75% to 3.25%. The primary building blocks to achieve the 2.5% midpoint include the following: first, our 2025 earn-in of 60 basis points; second, a 90 basis point contribution from blended lease rate growth, which is unchanged versus our prior guidance. Our expectations for blended lease rate growth in the second half of the year have come down versus the prior guidance, but outperformance in the first half of the year enables us to maintain the contribution to 2025 same-store revenue growth. For the full year, we now forecast blended lease rate growth to be approximately 2%. This implies blends in the second half of the year are comparable to the first half, and we assume typical seasonality with third quarter blends that are higher than the fourth quarter. Our outperformance in the first half of the year mitigates potential variability in blends through the end of the year. To illustrate this, every 50 basis point deviation to our second half blended lease rate growth equates to approximately 10 basis points of same-store revenue growth. Third, a 20 basis point contribution from the combination of occupancy and bad debt, which is an increase of 10 basis points versus our prior guidance. And fourth, an 80 basis point contribution from other operating initiatives and rentable items, which is an increase of 15 basis points versus our prior guidance. Moving on to same-store expense growth. We lowered our midpoint by 50 basis points to 3%. The improvement was primarily driven by the year-to-date outperformance across insurance and real estate taxes. Our expectations for expense growth in the second half of 2025 are slightly lower versus our prior guidance. Turning to regional results. Our coastal markets have exceeded our expectations while our Sunbelt markets have performed largely in line. More specifically, the East Coast, which comprises approximately 40% of our NOI, continued to exhibit strength with second quarter weighted average occupancy of 97.2% and blended lease rate growth of 4%. Year-to-date, same-store revenue growth of approximately 4.1% is slightly above the high end of our initial full year expectations for the region. Healthy demand and relatively low approximate new supply completions support a favorable operating environment going forward. The West Coast, which comprises approximately 35% of our NOI has demonstrated the strongest positive momentum and performed better than expected year-to-date. Second quarter weighted average occupancy for the West Coast was 96.9%, and blended lease rate growth led all regions at 4.2%. Year-to-date, same-store revenue growth of 3% is close to the high end of our initial full year expectation for the region. We continue to see particularly strong momentum in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, which are now two of our top- performing markets in terms of year-to-date NOI growth. Annual new supply completions are low at 1% to 1.5% of existing stock on average across our West Coast markets, which we expect will lead to a supply-demand dynamic remaining favorable in the coming quarters. Lastly, our Sunbelt markets, which comprise roughly 25% of our NOI, still lag our coastal markets on an absolute basis due to the lingering effects of elevated levels of new supply. Positively, this supply continues to be met with demand and strong absorption. With supply pressures expected to decrease and forecast for job growth remaining higher than our other regions, it is only a matter of time until pricing power returns. Second quarter weighted average occupancy for our Sunbelt markets was 96.7%, and blended lease rate growth improved by approximately 200 basis points sequentially versus the first quarter. Year-to-date, same-store revenue growth is slightly negative, which approximates the low end of our initial full year expectations for the region. Among our Sunbelt markets, Tampa continues to perform the best. To conclude, we delivered strong second quarter and first half 2025 results. Same-store revenue, expense and NOI growth were all better than expectations and near the high end of the respective full year guidance ranges. We are encouraged by the resiliency of various demand indicators, such as year-to-date job and wage growth, which have outpaced consensus estimates at the onset of the year. In turn, this has supported strong demand and record high absorption of newly delivered apartment communities. Demand for apartments is outpacing supply across many markets, and the elevated cost of homeownership coupled with a material undersupply of housing in the United States should bode well for occupancy and pricing going forward. To close, our diversified portfolio and continued innovation enable us to tactically adjust our operating strategy for each market to maximize revenue and NOI growth, thereby leveraging the positive fundamentals we see across our industry. My thanks go out to our teams across the country, your dedication to operating excellence and ability to drive strong results. I'll now turn over the call to Joe.