Bryan Smith
Analyst · Citi. Please proceed with your question
Thank you, Dave. Before I discuss our operating results, I would like to join Dave in recognizing our team for the care and support they showed our residents during Hurricane Ian. Not only did they secure all the vacant properties before the storm, but they made sure operations were back online immediately after the storm had passed. Our teams performed wellness checks in the hardest hit areas, were prepared with emergency supplies, extended around-the-clock resident support, and maintained communications with those affected by the storm. This highlights one of the major advantages of our internal services platform, which enables us to divert critical field personnel and resources to assist our residents. Moving on to operations. Demand for single-family rentals remained strong. In the third quarter, we received nearly 250,000 inbound leasing inquiries. Website traffic was up 21% year-over-year and most importantly, our distinct showings per rent ready property remains 60% higher than pre-pandemic averages. Same-home average occupied days was 97.1% and new renewal and blended rental rate growth was 12.5%, 8.3% and 9.5%, respectively, which drove 8.1% same-home core revenue growth for the quarter. Core operating expenses came in at 6.1% resulting in 9.3% same-home core NOI growth. We have another outstanding quarter. But as expected, the current operating environment is showing a return of seasonality, which was a natural part of our business prior to the pandemic. For the month of October, same-home average occupied days was 96.9% and new and renewal spreads were 9.1% and 8.2%, respectively. This resulted in blended rate growth of 8.5% for the month. More color on next year’s outlook will be provided during our fourth quarter call. But as we think about 2023, two major areas come to mind. First, on the revenue side, the combination of earn-in from leases signed this year, expected loss to lease recaptured, continued robust demand and increased deliveries from our development program set us up favorably for 2023. Second, because inflation does not seem to be letting up in the near-term, one of our top operational priorities next year is expense mitigation through optimization of our services platform. To sum things up, this was a great operational quarter, and our outlook remains optimistic. We are looking forward to a strong finish to 2022, which will position us well for growth in 2023. With that, I will turn the call over to Chris for the financial update.