Alignvest Student Housing – Q3 2023 Management Report

by on November 1, 2023 with No Comments
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 – MANAGEMENT REPORT

We are pleased to send you Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust’s Q3 2023 Management Report. We have had another successful leasing season, with current occupancy exceeding 99% and strong growth in rents on turnover beds. Interestingly, we had about 42% turnover this year, which means that we are expecting strong rent growth again next year when some of this year’s renewing tenants end their leases. We have a rental gap-to-market of $5.0 million and are targeting to deliver $42.5 million of NOI in the 2023/2024 academic year.

We continue to monitor and effectively manage our capital structure to optimize our returns. We have an attractive loan-to-value ratio of 46.5% on our mortgage debt, with a weighted average interest rate of 3.47% and staggered maturity dates. With the growth in our property values, we remain confident that we will be able to effectively refinance our maturing debt in 2024 and 2025.

As previously communicated, we temporarily closed the REIT for new investments in May 2023. We did this primarily because of the stalemate we were seeing in the market. While we continued to evaluate investment opportunities, there were substantial gaps between vendor asking prices and the price we were willing to bid. In addition, the debt markets were quite challenging to predict, making it difficult to underwrite investments.

We are now starting to see some attractive opportunities become available, where there is either attractive in-place debt (that can be assumed), the transaction can be completed at a price that delivers an attractive return for our REIT, or the opportunity is highly strategic. We also expect that several opportunities will become available at attractive prices over the next year or so, as highly leveraged vendors need to refinance properties at current interest rates. We want to be ready to act on these opportunities. Accordingly, we are pleased to announce that we will re-open the REIT for investments effective immediately, for the next monthly closing date as of November 30, 2023.

We are pleased to have delivered an annualized return of 12.5% since inception. We are also excited about our future growth, which continues to look strong, both from organic growth within our portfolio and from future investments. We are grateful for your continued support.

Below are the links to our Q3 2023 Management Report and Q3 2023 Financial Statements. We have also included the press release announcing our re-opening. Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.

Management Report

 

Press Release - October 2023

 

Financial Statements

 

See-More, at 1400 Seymour Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, consists of 491 beds adjacent to Dalhousie University.

See-More is at 100% occupancy for the 2023/2024 academic year

Alignvest Student Housing – Update

by on June 29, 2023 with No Comments

Alignvest Student Housing (“Alignvest”) is pleased to announce an increase in the Fair Market Value (“FMV”) of the Units of Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“ASH REIT”) to $134.00 per Class F Unit and $130.83 per Class A Unit (collectively, the “Unit”) as at June 30, 2023.

Additionally, ASH REIT’s Board of Trustees have approved ASH REIT’s Monthly Distribution of $0.50 per Unit ($6.00 per Unit on annual basis), effective June 30, 2023, for unitholders of record as of June 1, 2023.

Please refer to the press release for additional information.

Press Release

Alignvest Student Housing Management Report

by on February 9, 2023 with No Comments

We are pleased to send you Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust’s Q4 2022 Management Report.

Our fair market value remains stable due to our strong operating performance and forecasted NOI growth in 2023. Demand for high-quality student housing continues to outpace supply, which has translated into upward pressure on rental rates and resulted in low vacancy rates (99.6% occupancy as at December 31, 2022). Our current pre-leasing velocity is providing confidence that the 2023/2024 academic year will follow similar trends; we are budgeting 2023 NOI at ~8% higher than 2022 on a same-property basis. We are pleased to report that we are already over 60% pre-leased at our privately-managed properties for September 2023 (over 20% ahead last year at the same time).

We are pleased to have delivered a 10.5% annualized net return since inception, with limited volatility. Our annualized distribution yield is 4.9% as at December 2022, equivalent to approximately a 10% pre-tax equivalent yield as it is delivered as a tax-efficient return of capital. We believe our REIT will continue to perform well in 2023 given our market leading position and our strong business fundamentals.

Below is the link to our Management Report. Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.

Management Report

 

SEE-MORE, HALIFAX

We acquired 1400 Seymour Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia in January 2023 for $90 million. See-More is a 6-storey, newly constructed (2022) student housing facility located steps away from Dalhousie University. See-More has 141 fully furnished units, including bachelors, 3-bedroom, 4-bedroom and 5-bedroom suites.  Additionally, See-More features several student-oriented amenities, including a yoga and wellness studio, games room, on-site laundry facilities, social rooms, common study areas and an underground parking garage.

Alignvest Student Housing – Announcement

by on January 30, 2023 with No Comments

ALIGNVEST STUDENT HOUSING ACQUIRES HIGH-QUALITY STUDENT HOUSING ASSET IN HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA

 

We are pleased to announce that Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“ASH REIT”) has completed the acquisition of a purpose-built student accommodation (“PBSA”) asset known as See-More, located at 1402-1424 Seymour Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

See-More is a six-floor, newly constructed student housing facility located steps away from Dalhousie University. See-More is one of only a few purpose-built student housing properties serving Dalhousie University and is 100% leased for the 2022/23 academic year.

See-More is equipped with 491 beds in 141 fully furnished units, including studios, three-, four- and five-bedroom suites, which provides a wide variety of configurations for potential tenants. Additionally, See-More features several student-oriented amenities, including a yoga and wellness studio, games room, on-site laundry facilities, social rooms, common study areas and an underground parking garage.

This strategic acquisition further diversifies ASH REIT’s portfolio and solidifies the REIT’s position as the leading owner and operator of Canadian PBSA. With this acquisition, ASH REIT owns in excess of 5,200 student housing beds across Canada. Further, this acquisition marks ASH REIT’s entry into Atlantic Canada, which is home to several universities and colleges in need of housing for their students. We look forward to further growth in the Maritimes.

Below is the link to the press release announcing the acquisition.

Press Release Announcement

Alignvest Student Housing – Management Report

by on November 10, 2022 with No Comments

We are pleased to send you Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust’s (“ASH REIT”) Q3 2022 Management Report.

We are excited to have completed our September 2022 leasing season with record high occupancy of 99.9% across our portfolio. As of today, we only have four vacant beds across our entire privately-managed portfolio. We are also very pleased to have achieved an average net effective rent increase of 13.2% compared to September 2021.

Student housing continues to provide strong protection against the high inflation that we have been experiencing for several months now. In 2022, we turned over of 55% of our beds, resulting in the opportunity to close the gap-to-market on rental rates on these beds. With the remaining beds expected to turn over next year, we still have substantial upside ahead of us. Student housing offers a significant advantage compared to multi-family and other real estate sectors, which traditionally experience much lower turnover, especially in inflationary periods.

Below is the link to our Management Report. Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.

Management Report

Alignvest Student Housing – Q1 2022 Management Report

by on May 2, 2022 with No Comments

We are pleased to send you the March 31, 2022 Management Report of Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“ASH REIT”).

We are currently experiencing high inflation in Canada, with the inflation rate rising to 6.7% in March 2022. We are seeing that student housing provides very effective protection against inflation due to the natural, high turnover of student leases. While we are still in the midst of our pre-leasing season, we are executing leases at higher than budget rates and expect to achieve strong year-over-year growth in rents. Further, we continue to experience strong demand for our beds, with our pre-leasing  for September 2022 currently 16% ahead of last year at this time. We expect to have another year of strong occupancy next year, consistent with our current occupancy of 98%.

In response to high inflation, the Bank of Canada increased its benchmark interest rate by 50bps on April 13, 2022 and has indicated that further rate hikes should be expected. This, combined with the uncertainty from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has created a volatile financing environment, with base rates and lender spreads increasing. We are pleased to have stable and attractive financing in place, with no material near-term financing requirements. With respect to potential acquisitions, we have been building up a robust cash reserve on our balance sheet to capitalize on the expected opportunities that may arise over the next few months.

Even in an inflationary and volatile financing environment, there continues to be strong interest in the student housing sector both nationally and globally. On April 19, 2022, Blackstone announced the acquisition of American Campus Communities, the largest owner/operator of student housing in the United States, for ~USD$13 billion, demonstrating the continuing confidence in the sector.

Below is the link to our Management Report.

Management Report

Alignvest Student Housing – Q3 Management Report

by on October 19, 2021 with No Comments

We are pleased to send you the September 30, 2021 Management Report of Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“ASH REIT”).

Q3 2021 included the long-anticipated resumption of in-person classes at Canadian universities, making this arguably the most important period in our short history. We are extremely pleased to see students return to campus and confirm that online classes have not disrupted the traditional in-person teaching model.

In Q3 2021, we experienced robust leasing activity. We have returned to pre-pandemic occupancy with 96% of our beds leased for the 2021/2022 school year, and we are continuing to see additional interest from students who are still making plans to return for January 2022. Importantly, we have achieved this occupancy while also growing our gross and net rent on a year-over-year basis.

We also successfully closed our previously announced acquisition of THEO, a 507-bed property with ~18,000 square feet of retail space, on July 30, 2021. Since closing, renovations were completed to increase the bed count to 528 beds. We were successful in securing attractive financing for this deal and are proud to add this high quality property to our portfolio.

 

Below is the link to our Management Report. Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.
Management Report

 

 

THEO, OTTAWA

On July 30, 2021, we closed the acquisition of THEO, a recently renovated, multi-unit student housing building located at 305 Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario. The 12-storey building is comprised of 193 units and 528 beds. THEO offers top of the market interior finishes including a premium modern furniture package, stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops and in suite laundry. In addition to the residential space, there is approximately 18,000 square feet of street level retail space with tenants such as Bank of Montreal, PiCo and Dollarama.

Alignvest Student Housing – Q3 2020 Management Report

by on October 29, 2020 with No Comments

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 – MANAGEMENT REPORT

We are pleased to send you the September 30, 2020 Management Report of Alignvest Student Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“ASH REIT”).

September is the most important month for our REIT as it is the start of the school year. This year, in particular, with the onset of the “second wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty around university operations, we have been hyper-focused on occupancy and managing the health and safety of our tenants and employees. We are pleased that the majority of students showed up, are occupying their units, are excited to partake in the university experience, and are paying rent on time.

We are cautiously optimistic that our occupancy figures will continue to improve in the coming quarters with the recent announcement by the government to allow international students to enter Canada as of October 20, 2020.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Click the link below for the September 2020 update.

Management Report

Alignvest Student Housing – Update

by on September 23, 2020 with No Comments
ASH Unitholders,

September 1st is a very important date for our student housing assets. Most of our leases run on a September – September term. We wanted to provide some real time information as to how September appears to be going. The following attachment gives some raw numbers of our current portfolio. We wanted to provide some additional information in order to help best understand theses numbers and what they mean:

 

  • Our overall portfolio is 85%+ leased for the year. This is well above our estimated breakeven occupancy of 65%.
  • There is ONE building in our portfolio that is managed by a University. This is the annex building in Ottawa. The Annex has been recognized as the best building in the Universities portfolio and is the most occupied building. Its current occupancy is 57%. This is expected to be the case for at least the first term. Generally this building is fully occupied with a long waiting list.
  • We continue to be operating in a positive cash flow environment and we have plenty of cash on our balance sheet to weather any storm or take advantage of an opportunity to acquire quality assets.
  • At this point in time, management sees no reason to cut the distributions to unitholders and therefor distributions will continue.

 

See the below update:

 

Flash Report

Alignvest Student Housing – Press Release

by on July 20, 2020 with No Comments

We’re very pleased that the REIT is completing its first acquisition in Western Canada. The University of Alberta is a Top 5 Canadian University and rated amongst the top 100 universities in the world. Should you have any questions or are interested in learning more, please do not hesitate to contact your MFG Portfolio Manager.

Please see the below press release regarding Alignvest Student Housing.
Press Release
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