American Campus Communities Provides Interim Update in Advance of REITweek 2021

American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE: ACC), the nation’s largest owner and manager of high-quality student housing properties, today provided an interim update in connection with REITweek 2021: Nareit’s Investor Conference, which begins June 8, 2021.

Flamingo Crossings Village Occupancy Update

American Campus Communities is currently under construction on Flamingo Crossings Village, a 10-phase, $615 million residential community for participants of the Disney College Program (“DCP”). In May 2021, Walt Disney World Resort announced that it was recommencing the DCP in the summer of 2021 after temporarily suspending the program in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since commencing DCP leasing activities on May 27, approximately 1,650 participants have executed lease agreements to begin occupying Flamingo Crossings Village during the month of June 2021.

Five of the project’s 10 phases are scheduled to be delivered by July, representing 4,996 beds. The company is actively communicating with Walt Disney World Resort management regarding the near-term timing and pace of occupancy. Based on current onboarding plans and COVID-protocols, the company anticipates occupancy of available beds to be at least 85 percent by the fall of 2021. Barring unforeseen future impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company expects the project to meet its original 2022 targeted yield, with stabilization occurring in May 2023, as initially anticipated prior to the pandemic.

Academic Year 2021-2022 Preleasing Update

“While we are very pleased with the recent progress at Disney, we remain focused on the Fall 2021 lease-up across our 68 university markets. Consistent with our comments last quarter, preleasing across the industry continues to lag behind the traditional pre-COVID pace. With regard to our portfolio, the preleasing deficit compared to the prior year continues to narrow, as universities and students transition back toward more normal activities in this unique environment. Since March 12, we continue to see our average weekly velocity of applications and leases run at approximately 2.5 times the same period last year, consistent with the volumes we noted on our last call,” said Bill Bayless, American Campus Communities CEO. “While there remains a significant amount of leasing to do before the next academic year begins, our velocity is tracking in-line with the broader industry, as represented by the ‘AxioMetrics 175,’ and our preleased percentage continues to outpace averages in the majority of our markets. As previously stated, we do not expect to fully return to historical occupancy levels for Academic Year 2021-2022. Rental rates for the preleasing we have completed to date remain slightly above prior year, however we are seeing pricing pressure in certain markets as operators become more aggressive with concessions or rate reductions. On our second quarter earnings call in late July, we expect to be in a position to provide a more meaningful leasing comparison to prior year and a range of projected occupancy levels for Fall 2021.”