American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE: ACC), the nation’s
largest owner and manager of high-quality student housing
properties, today provided an interim leasing update for the
2020-2021 academic year.
As of September 11, 2020, the company’s same store owned
portfolio was 90.3 percent leased for the 2020-2021 academic year
with a 1.0 percent current rental rate increase over prior year,
after removing approximately 1,300 “no-shows” at open market
leasing properties and reflecting current assigned occupancy levels
at on-campus properties administered by the company’s university
partners. This compares to 97.4 percent same store occupancy as of
September 30, 2019.
The table below provides the company’s current leasing status as
compared to the company’s previous leasing update as of July 17,
2020 and as compared to the prior year’s final leasing results as
of September 30, 2019. The update is broken down by properties with
leases commencing in August that have completed the initial move-in
process, which represent 92.6 percent of the company’s same store
design beds, and by properties with leases commencing in September
where the initial move-in process will be completed in the coming
weeks, which represent the remaining 7.4 percent of same store
design beds. The data is further broken down by properties that
primarily house second-year and above students, consisting almost
entirely of apartment style products largely located off campus,
which represent approximately 90 percent of total same store beds;
and properties that primarily house first-year students, consisting
entirely of residence hall products largely located on-campus,
which represent approximately 10 percent of same store beds.
“As discussed on our July 21st earnings call, throughout June
and July we were encouraged by leasing trends and consumer
sentiment reflecting students’ desire to be in the college
environment with their peers, regardless of universities’ ultimate
plans for curriculum delivery being online or in-person,” said Bill
Bayless, American Campus Communities CEO. “Since that time, as
universities have toggled between methods of curriculum delivery in
response to COVID-19, we are pleased to have seen that sentiment
continue among sophomore and upper-division students and have
continued to make leasing progress at our properties which
primarily serve these experienced college students, as they are
currently 92 percent occupied. However, as the commencement of fall
classes drew near, we, our university partners and other
universities noted slightly more apprehension among incoming
first-year students. This group of students, who are leaving home
for the first time to begin their college careers, have exhibited a
higher degree of reluctance to relocate to campus while online
instruction is prevalent. In response, many universities
temporarily relaxed housing requirements and expectations for
first-year students, resulting in a fall term occupancy decline
over the prior year of approximately 16 percent at our on-campus
residence hall properties that primarily serve first-year students.
These properties represent only approximately 10 percent of our
total same store beds. We applaud and concur with universities
taking this action, as the relaxation of these housing policies has
resulted in most of these first-year students still enrolling at
their universities, which should mitigate material longer-term
enrollment impacts beyond the current COVID-19 crisis.”
COVID-19 Leasing Update As of September 11, 2020
Leases as % of Design Beds
Rental Revenue per Current as of As last
reported PY Final Design Leased Bed for
AY 9/11/2020 7/17/2020 9/30/2019
Beds 2020 / 2021 2019 / 2020
Change 2021 Same Store Owned Properties
August Commencement Properties that primarily
house sophomores and above
92.8
%
90.6
%
97.7
%
76,226
$
744
$
730
1.9
%
Properties that primarily house first-year students
79.5
%
89.0
%
95.7
%
12,067
$
1,094
$
1,073
2.0
%
Total August Commencement
91.0
%
90.4
%
97.4
%
88,293
$
786
$
776
1.3
%
September Commencement Properties that
primarily house sophomores and above
82.4
%
86.1
%
97.0
%
7,059
$
1,002
$
1,003
-0.1
%
Properties that primarily house first-year students
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Total September Commencement
82.4
%
86.1
%
97.0
%
7,059
$
1,002
$
1,003
-0.1
%
Total 2021 Same Store Owned Properties
Properties that primarily house sophomores and above
91.9
%
90.2
%
97.6
%
83,285
$
765
$
753
1.6
%
Properties that primarily house first-year students
79.5
%
89.0
%
95.7
%
12,067
$
1,094
$
1,073
2.0
%
Total 2021 Same Store Owned Properties
90.3
%
90.1
%
97.4
%
95,352
$
801
$
793
1.0
%
2020 Development Properties1 Currie
Hall, Phase II - ACE (Los Angeles, CA)
73.9
%
71.7
%
n/a
272
$
1,260
n/a
n/a
Manzanita Square - ACE (San Francisco, CA)2
25.5
%
n/a
n/a
584
$
1,508
n/a
n/a
Total Owned Properties
89.9
%
89.5
%
97.4
%
96,208
$
804
n/a
n/a
1. Excludes 1,627 beds at the Disney College Program Phases I and
II as these beds do not follow the company's typical pre-leasing
process. 2. Due to a university mandated de-densification of all
on-campus housing, this property was undergoing a reconfiguration
as of 7/17/2020.
“Moving forward, we are focused on continued execution of our
COVID-19 operational plan that has already allowed us to welcome
back over 80,000 student residents at ACC owned communities and on
completing the lease-up of our communities with leases commencing
in September,” said Jennifer Beese, American Campus Communities
COO. “We also believe the start of this academic year represents a
less final completion of the annual lease-up, as some students may
continue to make the decision to return to campus and rejoin their
peers regardless of university curriculum delivery methodology.
This could provide the opportunity to execute additional leases and
improve occupancy during the fall term as we hope to progress
toward a return to normalcy throughout the 2020-2021 academic year.
We will also continue to ‘Do the right thing’ by our stakeholders
and are committed to work with students who may need some
assistance under our Resident Hardship Program due to financial
difficulties caused by the ongoing pandemic, although we expect
less need than we experienced throughout the spring and summer of
the prior academic year. We also expect to see an improvement in
delinquency levels relative to the spring and summer terms, but
perhaps remaining above fully normalized levels, as we are
currently monitoring approximately 1,000 leases or 1.0 percent of
beds where students have made their August rent payment but
requested that we relet their accommodation. Typically, at this
time of year, we have about half of this amount of relet requests
remaining. We are also monitoring approximately 1,100 active leases
or 1.2 percent of beds where students have made their August rent
payment but have delayed their arrival beyond the initial move-in
date given the less rigid requirement to physically be on campus
when classes commence. Also, with regard to any additional refunds
at our on-campus ACE properties, at this time we have only agreed
to approximately $1.5 million in refunds for the Fall semester as
compared to approximately $17 million we reported for the spring
and summer terms in total.”
About American Campus Communities
American Campus Communities, Inc. is the largest owner, manager
and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the
United States. The company is a fully integrated, self-managed and
self-administered equity real estate investment trust (REIT) with
expertise in the design, finance, development, construction
management and operational management of student housing
properties. As of June 30, 2020, American Campus Communities owned
166 student housing properties containing approximately 111,900
beds. Including its owned and third-party managed properties, ACC's
total managed portfolio consisted of 201 properties with
approximately 138,000 beds. Visit www.americancampus.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to historical information, this press release
contains forward-looking statements under the applicable federal
securities law. These statements are based on management’s current
expectations and assumptions regarding markets in which American
Campus Communities, Inc. (the “Company”) operates, operational
strategies, anticipated events and trends, the economy, and other
future conditions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of
future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties,
which are difficult to predict. These risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in the forward looking-statements include
those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, about which there are still
many unknowns, including the duration of the pandemic and the
extent of its impact, and those discussed in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 under the heading
“Risk Factors” and under the heading “Business - Forward-looking
Statements” and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We
undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statements, including our preleasing activity or expected full year
2020 operating results, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200914005262/en/
AT THE COMPANY Ryan Dennison
Investor Relations (512) 732-1000
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