BSR REIT turns healthy 2020 profit

BSR Real Estate Investment Trust reported steady fourth quarter results, which led to a profitable full year.

The Little Rock-based REIT, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, posted full year revenues of $113.28 million and net income of $27.57 million. One year ago, BSR REIT recorded revenue of $111.66 million and a net loss $53.2 million.

“2020 was an active and successful year for BSR even with challenges presented by the pandemic,” said John Bailey, BSR REIT CEO. “During the year, we continued to successfully execute our capital recycling and growth program, with the divestiture of 17 non-core properties comprising 3,865 apartment units and the acquisition of six properties comprising 1,978 apartment units in targeted primary growth markets. This program will continue into 2021.”

“With the remaining proceeds of the divestiture program and the additional net proceeds from our recent $69 million unit offering, we are now poised to stabilize and then grow the portfolio by taking advantage of our robust acquisition pipeline while increasing unitholder value though organic rental and asset value growth,” Bailey said.

Highlights for the year include:

• Same Community revenues for FY 2020 increased 2.1% over FY 2019;
• Weighted average rent was $1,088 per apartment unit as of December 31, 2020 compared to $937 per apartment unit as of December 31, 2019, representing a 16.1% increase;
• During FY 2020, the REIT added 156 apartment units to the portfolio, through the development of Wimbledon Green II;
• During FY 2020, the REIT sold 17 non-core properties for $346 million, of which $260 million relates to 12 properties sold in Q4 2020, as part of its capital recycling program; and
• These acquisitions and dispositions reduced the average age of the BSR portfolio by 13 years to 16 years.

Shares of BSR REIT (HOM-U.TO) were trading at $10.93 on Wednesday morning. The stock has traded between a low of $7.51 per share and a high of $11.89 per share over the last 52 weeks.