EQR - Equity Residential (EQR) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-04-24 19:08:09 ET
Equity Residential (EQR)
Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call
April 24, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Marty McKenna - IR and Public Relations
Mark Parrell - President and CEO
Michael Manelis - EVP and COO
Alexander Brackenridge - EVP and CIO
Robert Garechana - EVP and CFO
Conference Call Participants
Eric Wolfe - Citi
John Pawlowski - Green Street
Steve Sakwa - Evercore ISI
Josh Dennerlein - Bank of America
Derrick Metzler - Morgan Stanley
Michael Goldsmith - UBS
Haendel St. Juste - Mizuho
Jamie Feldman - Wells Fargo
John Kim - BMO Capital Markets
Linda Tsai - Jefferies
Presentation
Operator
Good day and welcome to the Equity Residential 1Q 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. Today's conference is being recorded.
At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Marty McKenna. Please go ahead.
Marty McKenna
Good morning and thanks for joining us to discuss Equity Residential's first quarter 2024 results. Our featured speakers today are Mark Parrell, our President and CEO; and Michael Manelis, our Chief Operating Officer. Alex Brackenridge, our Chief Investment Officer; and Bob Garechana, our Chief Financial Officer are here with us as well for the Q&A. Our earnings release is posted in the Investors section of equityapartments.com.
Please be advised that certain matters discussed during this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain economic risks and uncertainties. The company assumes no obligation to update or supplement these statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.
Now, I will turn the call over to Mark Parrell.
Mark Parrell
Thank you, Marty. Good morning and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2024 results and outlook for the year. I will start us off, then Michael Manelis, our COO, will speak to our operating performance and how we see 2024 operations playing out. And then we will take your questions.
We are pleased with our first quarter performance, which was ahead of January expectations and reflects the strong demand for the lifestyle our well-located apartment properties provide as well as little new competitive supply across most of our established markets.
Our same-store revenues increased 4.1% in the quarter, and our same-store expenses rose only 1.3%, which led to same-store NOI growth of 5.5% and an increase in our NFFO per share of 6.9%.
So, overall, a very solid start to the year across all categories, with the company well positioned to capture increasing seasonal demand as we head into our prime leasing season. As is our practice, we have not revised our operating or FFO guidance and we'll make adjustments as we get deeper into our primary leasing season.
Digging under the hood a bit, the durability of the employment picture for our target affluent renter demographic is a continuing bright spot in our business as is the cost of owned housing.
Unemployment for the college educated, a very sizable percentage of our residents, remains at around 2%, considerably lower than the overall average, supporting demand....
Equity Residential (EQR) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript