Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Morguard North American Residential REIT first quarter 2021 results conference call. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. K. Rai Sahi. Please go ahead. Thank you. Thank you very much. Chris, I'm going to pass it on to you. You can introduce everybody. Okay. Thank you, K. Rai Sahi. With me as well is Beverley Flynn, Paul Miatello, Angela Sahi, Patrick Stewart, and John Talano. As is customary, I'll provide comments on the REIT's financial position and performance. In terms of our financial position, the REIT completed the first quarter of 2021 with total assets amounting to CAD 3.1 billion, unchanged compared to December 31st, 2020. The REIT finished the first quarter with approximately CAD 19.8 million of cash on hand and CAD 96.1 million available under its CAD 100 million revolving credit facility with Morguard Corporation. The REIT completed the first quarter with CAD 1.2 billion of long-term debt obligations, as at March 31st, 2021, the REIT's overall weighted average term to maturity was 4.6 years, a decrease from 4.8 years at December 31st, having a weighted average interest rate of 3.45%. The REIT's debt to gross book value ratio improved to 42.1% as at March 31st, 2021, from 42.8% at December 31st, 2020. The REIT's IFRS net asset value at March 31st, 2021, of CAD 27.50 per unit compared to the current market price of approximately CAD 15.50 reflects a compelling entry point for investors. Turning to the statement of income, net income was CAD 27.4 million for the three months ended March 31st, 2021, compared to CAD 97.2 million over the same period in 2020. The CAD 69.8 million decrease in net income was primarily due to a decrease in the fair value gain on the Class B LP units of CAD 81.3 million due to a fair value gain of CAD 6.5 million recorded during Q1 2021 compared to a fair value gain of CAD 87.8 million recorded in Q1 2020. A decrease in foreign exchange gain of CAD 1.8 million, which was also partially offset by a higher fair value gain on real estate properties of CAD 17 million. IFRS net operating income of CAD 15.3 million for the three months ended March 31st, 2021, a decrease of CAD 2.1 million or 12.2% compared to 2020. On a same-property proportionate basis, NOI in Canada decreased by CAD 1.1 million or 7.6%. NOI in the U.S. decreased by $0.8 million or 5.2%. The change in foreign exchange decreased NOI by CAD 1.5 million. The decrease in NOI in Canada and the U.S. was impacted by higher vacancy. Interest expense increased by CAD 2 million for the three months ended March 31st, 2021 compared to 2020, primarily due to a non-cash decrease in the fair value gain on convertible debentures conversion option. The REIT's first quarter performance has translated into basic FFO of CAD 15.6 million, a decrease of CAD 2.5 million or 13.7% when compared to 2020. On a per unit basis, FFO was CAD 0.28 per unit for the three months ended March 31st, 2021, a decrease of CAD 0.04 compared to CAD 0.32 per unit in 2020. The decrease in FFO per unit was due to the following: A decrease on a same-property proportionate basis due to a decrease in NOI primarily from increased vacancy and was partially offset by a decrease in trust expense, had a CAD 0.02 per unit negative impact. As well, the change in foreign exchange rate had a CAD 0.02 per unit negative impact. The REIT's FFO payout ratio was 63% for the three months ended March 31st, 2021, a very conservative level, which allows for significant cash retention. Operationally, the REIT's average monthly rent in Canada increased to CAD 1,509 or a 4.3% increase compared to 2020, reflecting the quality of our Canadian portfolio. During the quarter, the Canadian portfolio turned over 2.1% of total suites in Canada and achieved 15.7% AMR growth on suite turnover. While in the U.S., same property AMR increased by 0.7% compared to 2020, having an average monthly rent of $1,429 U.S. at the end of March 2021. The REIT's occupancy in Canada finished the first quarter of 2021 at 93.6% compared to 98.8% a year earlier. Occupancy decreased in Canada due to continued lower leasing traffic, lower immigration levels, as well as two properties impacted by university closures. Same property occupancy in the U.S. of 95.1% at March 31st, 2021, was slightly lower compared to 95.4% at March 31st, 2020. During the first quarter of 2021, the REIT's total CapEx amounted to CAD 5.7 million. That included exterior building and revenue-enhancing in-suite improvements. In order to preserve liquidity, the REIT scaled back most of its revenue-enhancing CapEx and continued to focus on maintenance CapEx. As at April 27th, 2021, the REIT collected 98.4% of first quarter rental revenue and approximately 95.4% of April 2021 rental revenue, which is materially in line with historical rates. I'll now turn the call back over to the moderator who will open the line for questions. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have any questions, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request, and your questions will be pulled in the order they are received. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before pressing any keys. One moment for your first question. Your first question comes from Matt Logan with RBC Capital Markets. Matt, please go ahead. Good afternoon. Just wondering if you could provide a little bit of commentary on how leasing is progressing so far into April and how the momentum is building through the year? Okay, thanks, Matt. I'll turn it over to Angela first to speak to the Canadian portfolio. Yeah. In Canada, even despite the stay-at-home order, we are finding that with the spring market, historically, this is the time you see most of the demand starting. In the last two weeks, we have seen much more leasing traffic and prospects signing leases for the summer. Even universities, it seems like there are partial openings expected or anticipated for fall, so people are signing leases for July and August. Overall, we're seeing some positive growth there. Thanks. John, do you want to add anything in the U.S.? Sure. For the U.S., I would say our leasing season started much earlier than typical. We've had some really good activity in all of our markets actually over the last month and a half or so. We are now already at above our occupancy levels pre-pandemic. It's very good, and it's very strong and improving every day right now in the U.S. John, would it be fair to say that the incentives are declining as that leasing interest is picking up? Yes, definitely. As an example, we're really only using incentives in Chicago and D.C. As an example, the Chicago market, I think I spoke about Marquee on the last call and our assets there. The Chicago market has really exploded with activity. We were in the mid-70s in occupancy in Chicago, and the Marquee today is 92% occupied and 98% leased. In those markets, we are still using some incentives because there is still a large supply of new product coming in Chicago specifically. It is at a much reduced pace, and we have nothing left to lease. From that perspective, we're doing really well. Good. Great news. Maybe this is a question for Chris. Could you remind us how you're calculating the incentives in terms of how they flow through the P&L? Are those just being expensed or amortized in the income statement? They're amortized over the term of the lease, typically 12 months. And last- Sorry, go ahead, Matt. Go ahead, Chris. I was just saying the cash flow statement has the cash incentive listed on there. Including our financials, there's a line in our cash flow statement that speaks to the amortized portion. Appreciate that. Last one from me, just on the lease up for Josephine in New Orleans. Can you give us a sense for where that stands today? Sure. It was definitely slow in the beginning. I think we reported that we were 12% occupied at the quarter, and our goal was 28%, so we were only halfway there. We're already at 21% occupied and 28% leased a month later. The momentum is definitely improving, and we expect that to continue to improve in New Orleans. We have a lot of university traffic from Loyola and Tulane universities, and that's absolutely picking up as well. Appreciate the commentary. That's all from me. I'll turn it back. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Lorne Kalmar with TD Securities. Lorne, please go ahead. Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. Maybe just following on Matt's question. In the U.S., obviously things are opening. It looks like there's a return to normalcy, and clearly, you guys are posting some good numbers and great to hear you're above pre-pandemic occupancy-wise. Maybe let me rephrase. When do you think we get back to seeing positive same-property NOI growth in the U.S. portfolio? We're in a great place right now. I expect that our trends will continue through this next quarter. Obviously, I cannot predict the future, nor want to even pretend to with the pandemic. Things are very strong. Our expenses we've been able to hold pretty well, but we've also had a lot of activity. We are going to see an increase in move-in and make-ready expenses. That is because we're filling up very quickly. Yeah. Presumably that would get partially offset by the growth in revenue, right? Right. Well, we actually held rents trying to do the right thing during the pandemic. We have released those controls, and we are definitely pushing rents with our software every day. Okay. With things sort of starting to reopen in the U.S., because I don't think there's much bad debts in Canada. Is the expectation, not they were material amount, but that they'll continue to trend downwards? I think we're going to have a group of folks that have been deferring rent and working with the eviction moratorium and simply just holding off on paying rent. We've seen when areas for evictions open up, folks react quickly and pay off a lot of their debts almost immediately. We think a big chunk of what's out there is actually going to be paid off immediately, and quite frankly, the remaining amount is immaterial. Okay. In the U.S., what would you say are the strongest markets? Are those the ones that have kind of started to fully reopen, the Floridas of the world and whatnot? Florida has been strong throughout the pandemic. They're all performing very well at this point. You can see where the most rent growth is, and that's where we've been the strongest. Certainly Florida, Texas, and even Georgia have all performed. Okay. Maybe just lastly from me, with things appearing to stabilize and there's a little bit more visibility, do you guys think you'll start looking at acquisitions? I know north of the border is a little tough, in the U.S.? This is where we start. We are always looking at acquisitions. We'll see what comes. We're looking in the U.S. mostly. We looked at some in Canada, but not much. We're looking at some marketing in the U.S., including the possible development of new products. That's an ongoing process. Okay. Thank you. Are there any new markets you guys would like to get into, or you're comfortable where you guys are? Well, that depends on opportunity. We are looking at new markets, but whether we would do anything yet or not, only time will tell. Fair enough. Okay, thanks everyone. I'll turn it back. Thank you. We have a following question from Yash Sankpal with Laurentian Bank. Yash, please go ahead. Good afternoon. Hi, Yash. Just want to understand the Canadian market a little bit, your Canadian portfolio a little bit better. I see that your rent growth on turnover is quite impressive. It's a small base, but still, 16% is not a small number. You saw a sequential drop in occupancy. Just want to understand what is happening. Who are you losing your tenants to? Who are the new guys coming in? Any color there would be great. Sure. There's actually some positive spin on this because we're actually losing people that are below market. They're actually moving into new homes in the Mississauga portfolio. Those units are coming to market at this point. We do have a little bit more turnover compared to last year, but not significant. Obviously there is growth from just that transition from old rent to new rent. We are still applying for above guideline applications. Although there's a 0% guideline increase, we do have those ongoing as well. We're holding our rent at pre-COVID market rates right now. That's why we're okay with the temporary vacancy in the portfolio. Based on what kind of leasing happening right now, where do you think you'll be by end of, say, September? That's really hard to predict. We're hoping for a comparable effect as the U.S. We're hoping for a bounce back once the vaccine gets rolled out. I'm hoping by September we'll be back to normal. Okay. Just, Rai, you mentioned about development projects, will these projects be in the U.S., or are you looking at any Canadian opportunities? We are looking at both sides, mostly in the U.S. It's tough to make economics work these days in GTA because of the condo market and all that. It's pretty tough to make the numbers work on a new project. Okay. That's it for me. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a final reminder, should you have any questions, please press star one. Thank you very much. There are no other questions. Oh, sorry. Thank you. I think that's it. Yep. Yeah. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Thank you. Thank you. Bye now. Bye.