Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Killam Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call.
At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session.
If at any time during this call you require assistance, please press *0 for the operator. This call is being recorded on August 6, 2026.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Philip Fraser, President and CEO.
Please go ahead.
Philip Fraser
Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining Killam Apartment REIT's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call.
I am here today with Robert Richardson, Executive Vice President; Dale Noseworthy, Chief Financial Officer; and Erin Cleveland, Senior Vice President of Finance. Slides to accompany today's call are available on the Investor Relations section of our website under Events and Presentations.
I will now ask Erin to read our cautionary statement.
Erin Cleveland
Thank you, Philip. This presentation may contain forward-looking statements with respect to Killam Apartment REIT and its operations, strategy, financial performance conditions, or otherwise.
The actual results and performance of Killam discussed here today could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements involve numerous inherent risks and uncertainties, and although Killam management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements will occur as anticipated.
For further information about the inherent risks and uncertainties in respect of forward-looking statements, please refer to Killam's most recent annual information form and other securities regulatory filings found online on SEDAR+. All forward-looking statements made today speak only as of the date which this presentation refers, and Killam does not intend to update or revise any such statements unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws.
Philip Fraser
Thank you, Erin. We are very pleased with our operating results for the second quarter of 2026.
We achieved 3% same property NOI growth across the portfolio, which included 4.6% same property NOI growth in our apartment portfolio. Our portfolio continues to demonstrate resilience, supported by strong demand for our apartments.
Our Atlantic Canada markets continue to be our strongest markets and the driver of our outperformance this year. Same property apartment occupancy at the end of the second quarter was 97.6%, up from 97% in Q1.
The increased federal defense spending commitments are positive for a number of our markets. We are already seeing increased economic activity across our portfolio, reinforcing our confidence in the region's long-term growth outlook.
Dale will now take us through our financial results, followed by Robert, who will discuss rental market fundamentals. I will conclude with an update on our capital allocation strategy.
I will now hand it over to Dale.
Dale Noseworthy
Thanks, Phil. Key highlights of Killam's Q2 financial performance can be found on slide 2.
Killam delivered strong operating performance in the quarter, including 3.8% same property apartment revenue growth. The weighted average rental increase on renewed and turned apartment units shown on slide 3 was 3.6%, consistent with the first quarter.
Increases averaged 5% on unit turns and 3% on renewals. As shown on slide 4, in-place rents remain approximately 10% below current market rents across the portfolio.
This mark-to-market opportunity, together with sustained demand and high occupancy, provides a visible runway for continued revenue growth. These fundamentals reinforce our confidence in the portfolio's ability to perform and support our same property apartment revenue growth target of at least 3.5% for the year.
Turning to expenses, apartment same property expenses were up 2.1%, while operating expenses for the same property consolidated portfolio increased by 1.9%, as shown on slide 5. We remain confident in our 2026 NOI growth targets, which were raised in Q1, of achieving at least 3.5% for the apartment portfolio and 2.5% for the consolidated portfolio.
FFO was $39.6 million in the quarter, a 0.5% increase from Q2 2025, while FFO per unit was unchanged at 32 cents. Same property NOI growth, contributions from the Carrick, and lower administrative costs were offset by higher interest expense and the temporary earnings impact of the Westmount Place vacancy following the departure of a large office tenant on April 1st.
The Westmount vacancy reduced Q2 FFO by approximately $900,000. Excluding this impact, FFO per unit would have increased 2.3% quarter-over-quarter.
While this near-term vacancy tempered per unit growth, it reflects a temporary transition period as we reposition Westmount Place. We expect the redevelopment and releasing program to begin contributing to FFO growth in 2028.
Our balance sheet remains well-positioned, with debt metrics highlighted on slide 6. Total debt as a percentage of total assets was 42.8% at June 30th.
Subsequent to quarter end, Killam completed the disposition of a portion of our Ontario MHC portfolio, and net proceeds were applied against the credit facility. Following this transaction, debt as a percentage of total assets improved by 60 basis points to 42.2%.
As at June 30th, our total weighted average mortgage interest rate was 3.62%. Approximately 95% of our apartment mortgages are CMHC-insured, which remains an important competitive advantage, providing access to lower-cost, long-term financing relative to other asset classes.
Looking at our debt maturity profile on slide 7, the path toward more stable interest expense growth is in sight. Apartment mortgages maturing in 2028 and 2029 would be renewed at rates similar to or lower than the current rates of 4% and 3.7%, respectively.
With less pressure on interest expense, we expect a greater portion of NOI growth to flow through to FFO. Combined with continued same property NOI growth, the stabilization of recently completed developments, and the benefit of NCIB activity, we expect strong per unit earnings growth in the future.
I will now turn it over to Robert.
Robert Richardson
Thank you, Dale, and good morning, everyone. Our Q2 results reinforce the strength of Killam's Atlantic Canadian platform.
High occupancy, sustained rent growth, and limited incentive activity continue to support strong same property performance, while major defense-related investment in Halifax and across the region provides a durable long-term demand backdrop. Atlantic Canada continues to be Killam's strongest performing region, supported by high occupancy and above-average rental rate growth.
As shown on slide 8, Q2 occupancy remained above 98% across our Atlantic portfolio. Halifax, our largest market, continues to deliver particularly strong results.
In Q2, Halifax same property apartment revenue increased 6.3%, while same property apartment net operating income increased 7%. We also believe the region's growing defense presence represents a significant long-term advantage for Killam.
Please refer to the map on slide 9, which highlights the locations of these investments. Halifax is home to Canadian Forces Base Halifax, Canada's largest military base by personnel, with a combined 10,000 military and civilian employees on site.
Nova Scotia is expected to receive approximately $2 billion in defense-related investment, with CFB Halifax and CFB Greenwood receiving most of that capital. An additional $1 billion is expected to be invested across Atlantic Canada, with CFB Gagetown, located near Fredericton, receiving the vast majority of those funds.
Slide 10 provides additional detail on the National Shipbuilding Strategy, a cornerstone of Canada's defense program. Halifax remains a primary beneficiary of this initiative.
Established in 2013, the program awarded Irving Shipbuilding the contract to modernize Canada's combat fleet at the Halifax Shipyard, where more than 3,000 people are employed today. Most recently, Canada awarded the largest defense procurement contract in its history to Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems for the construction and long-term maintenance of up to 12 submarines.
Six of these vessels are expected to be permanently stationed and serviced at CFB Halifax. This represents a $24 billion procurement, with an estimated national economic impact of up to $86 billion over the next 30 to 50 years.
The first submarines are expected to arrive in Halifax beginning in 2034. In summary, with more than 5,700 apartment units in Halifax alone, we view Atlantic Canada as a differentiated competitive advantage within Killam's portfolio.
I'd also like to provide additional commentary on 50 Westmount Place, as Sun Life's decision to vacate approximately 200,000 square feet at the start of Q2 weighed on same property NOI growth this quarter. Fortunately, due to its exceptional location, we believe 50 Westmount represents a compelling repositioning opportunity.
Our plan is to transform the property into a mixed-use destination, combining retail, office, and dining uses. The redevelopment will be completed in three phases, with full completion expected in late 2028.
This phased approach allows us to reposition the asset over time while continuing to advance leasing, design, and tenant mix decisions in a disciplined manner. While the repositioning will take some time, we expect the property to begin contributing meaningfully to earnings in 2028.
With that, I'll hand you back to Philip to discuss Killam's capital recycling and capital allocation strategy.
Philip Fraser
Thank you, Robert. Capital recycling remains a key focus during the second quarter and is a very important source of funding.
On August the 4th, we completed the disposition of a portfolio of Ontario manufactured home communities, containing approximately 746 sites, for gross proceeds of $50.9 million. The portfolio consists of eight year-round communities and one seasonal park, with an average rent of $507 per month and an exit cap rate of approximately 5.9%.
Net proceeds after debt were approximately $40 million. In addition, we have a Nova Scotia portfolio of nine MHC communities, containing roughly 1,300 sites, under agreement of purchase and sale, and is expected to close in Q3.
A large 3,000-site portfolio of seasonal and year-round MHCs under contract, with an expectation of closing in Q4 2026. Proceeds from dispositions and refinancing maturing first mortgage debt allows flexibility to allocate capital between NCIB repurchases, debt reductions, acquisitions, and development opportunities.
During the quarter, Killam allocated $31.3 million towards its NCIB activity, repurchasing 1.7 million trust units for cancellation. Year-to-date through the end of July, Killam has repurchased a total of 2.7 million trust units, representing more than $49.2 million of capital to unit repurchases, shown on slide 3.
We intend to continue unit repurchases as a key component of our capital allocation strategy during the second half of 2026. In Waterloo, Ontario, Brightwood, our newest development, reached substantial completion on June the 1st, 2026, ahead of schedule and below budget, at a total development cost of $55.1 million.
The 128-unit property is currently 45% leased and is expected to reach stabilization occupancy in early 2027. Photos of the completed property can be seen on slide 14.
Eventide, our 55-unit development in Halifax, on slide 15, remains on track for completion in Q4 2026 and is currently 22% pre-leased. We also maintain a 10% interest in Nolan Hill Phase 3 in Calgary, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2027.
In the current environment, we continue to prioritize flexibility, balance sheet strength, and the highest-return capital allocation opportunities. To conclude, we are very pleased with our second quarter operating performance and the progress made across our strategic priorities listed on slide 17.
We delivered strong apartment NOI growth, completed Brightwood ahead of schedule, advanced our Westmount Place repositioning plans, and remained active under our NCIB, and continue to execute on capital recycling. I would like to thank our employees for their continued hard work and dedication.
Thank you. We will now open up the call for questions.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session.
Should you have a question, please press the * followed by the 1 on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised.
Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the * followed by the 2. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys.
One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Jonathan Kelcher with TD Cowen.
Please go ahead.
Jonathan Kelcher
Thanks. Good morning.
First question just on the same property NOI on the apartment side. I know you didn't officially raise your target for the year, but is there any reason to think that it won't stay above 4% in the back half of the year, or are you just sort of concerned about weather in Q4, would that be the bogey?
Dale Noseworthy
Utilities would be the bogey, just a reminder we had a hefty increase in water rates in Nova Scotia that was approved earlier this year. In the third quarter, those are up about 18%, the rates alone, so that's something we are modeling in, as well as Q4 on the nat gas side.
Jonathan Kelcher
Okay. Fair enough.
Then for 2027, I don't recall if you put in the MD&A that you expect similar apartment same property NOI growth. That seems kind of early to be putting something like that out.
What's kind of driving that?
Dale Noseworthy
Certainly, the mark-to-market that we have when we look at our ability to increase rents, the strength in the occupancy. When we look at top line and we have insight generally into renewals, we're still seeing strength in terms of our ability to get rental growth.
On turns, we're seeing reduced pressure on lower rates in some markets, including Alberta and Ontario in the last quarter. When we look out, we do expect that should be more moderated.
On the expense side, that does factor in a reasonable amount of expense growth. The outlook could change, but as of now, we are expecting similar growth next year.
Jonathan Kelcher
Perfect. Then just lastly on Westmount, looks like you're a little bit further along in your planning.
You have a budgeted cost for the transformation there, and are you still targeting, I think at one point you were targeting a million dollars in NOI when all is said and done? Hi,
Philip Fraser
Jonathan. A million dollars of NOI?
Jonathan Kelcher
I may have that wrong. I can go back and look.
Okay.
Philip Fraser
The first part of the question?
Jonathan Kelcher
The cost for this year and next year. Yeah.
Philip Fraser
The cost. We're between $15 million and $20 million is where we're looking at this point.
Far, the demolition quotes have come in actually favorably, so that's good to see. We're well on our way.
Jonathan Kelcher
Okay. Thanks.
I'll turn it back.
Operator
Your next question comes from Sairam Srinivas with ATB Cormark Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Sairam Srinivas
Thank you, operator. Phil, going back to your comment on the MHC disposition post-quarter, would you say the value of the dispositions is pretty much in line with the IFRS value and even for the dispositions going ahead, would they be in line with what you expect there?
Philip Fraser
Sorry, could you just repeat that first part of the question about the sales of the MHCs?
Sairam Srinivas
Looking at the MHC dispositions announced post-quarter, would you say they are fairly in line with values carried them at books at Q2? Going ahead toward the comments made about potential dispositions coming in, would they be somewhere in line there as well?
Philip Fraser
Yes. Okay.
Sairam Srinivas
Maybe looking at the more near-term leases that have been a drag overall, how should we be thinking about the cadence of this drag coming in, and do you see that heading down into the second half of next year?
Dale Noseworthy
The drag on the return on new releases, just to clarify your question?
Sairam Srinivas
Yes.
Dale Noseworthy
We do see it lessening and looking forward, expect it to moderate, likely flat in the second half of next year, maybe earlier, in terms of the turns closer to flat rents, I would say, rather than negative for those near-term leases.
Erin Cleveland
We expect the overall increase on turns to be
Dale Noseworthy
generally
Erin Cleveland
in line with what we have seen.
Dale Noseworthy
Absolutely.
Erin Cleveland
Yeah.
Sairam Srinivas
Okay. Thanks, guys.
I'll turn it back.
Philip Fraser
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Jimmy Shan with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Jimmy Shan
Thanks. Good morning.
The positive leasing momentum, is that continuing to July and early August?
Philip Fraser
Sorry, can you repeat that question, Jimmy?
Jimmy Shan
I was just curious if the occupancy has further improved since end of the quarter.
Erin Cleveland
July we saw a little bit of the dip in occupancy, but we're expecting to see that come back, maybe not to the exact level we saw in May and June, it was very strong in the second quarter. Overall probably a little bit down from what we saw in the second quarter, but still strong.
Jimmy Shan
Okay.
Erin Cleveland
It's really just localized in a certain student-based assets and predominantly in the London area.
Jimmy Shan
Right. Likewise on the rental incentives, do you see that now that occupancy is at that sort of 97 or over 97%, do you see that plateauing or even trending down a little bit?
Erin Cleveland
We actually in July had seen it trend down slightly month-over-month, we're hoping to see that continue. Okay.
Jimmy Shan
To follow up on the Westmount question, you're spending $15 million to $20 million in reno costs. What's your expectation again in terms of projected NOI once everything is done?
You have that?
Philip Fraser
Basically, before when Sun Life was there, we were hitting about $5.2 million in NOI, and with the subtractions of space to create more sort of parking in front of the building, and then the addition that we're putting on of retail and changing the mix from 100% office to a big chunk of it being retail with a higher sort of net rent, we think that, basically, it might be about $200,000, $300,000 less over that period of time once it's fully leased up. The flip side of that is it creates another 80,000 square feet of space that's not going to be on a building footprint, and the thoughts are in phases 2 and 3 that there's going to be more retail built on the other side of the parking lot.
Then
Jimmy Shan
just lastly on the NCIB, I know, Phil, you mentioned that continues to be a priority for you. You expect the same pace of NCIB activity in Q2 on a go-forward basis?
Dale Noseworthy
Really depends on pricing. The last month, continuing to trade below $19.
We remained active, in these levels, we would expect to continue to be very active.
Jimmy Shan
Thank you.
Philip Fraser
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Mario Saric with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Mario Saric
Hi, good morning. Just maybe coming back to the occupancy and just looking at slide 3 in the call deck, which is great disclosure.
I think you mentioned that July occupancy may dip a little bit versus June. If we go back historically, if you go back 20 years, typically Q3 occupancy is greater than Q2 occupancy.
I guess that kind of adjusts for some of the seasonality associated with the student buildings that you mentioned. Is that the expectation for this year, for Q3 September end occupancy to be higher than Q2?
Erin Cleveland
I expect probably end of September occupancy probably to be generally in line with Q2, not necessarily higher. It really did peak.
It abnormally peaked kind of in that second quarter compared to historical trends.
Mario Saric
What do you think drove the abnormal peak earlier in the quarter?
Dale Noseworthy
If we took out those few properties Erin mentioned, we would still be pretty high. It is still pretty high, I don't mean to say our occupancy is still very strong.
London is a market that is our most challenging at the moment, some of those student-focused ones, and there is some new supply in that market, so that's part of that. If you took out those few properties, you'd likely be looking quite stable.
Philip Fraser
We're talking about 180 Mill. We've owned that building for 10, 15 years or more, and we've seen this trend multiple times as the children of every four years or there's new supply around there that it kind of dips out over the summer, but it comes back throughout the year.
It's just a seasonality and a function of that market.
Mario Saric
Okay. Then when I look at that slide, if you look at the top chart, the line on the top chart, it generally kind of correlates with the bars on the bottom chart, meaning kind of the higher the occupancy goes, the better your lease spreads are, which is relatively intuitive.
With the occupancy level kind of having come up and expected to kind of stay at the level that it is by the end of September, would you say that your renewal and newly spreads have troughed at this point?
Dale Noseworthy
I think newly spreads, we're going to see similar spreads going forward. It's a bit of a different market that when a few years ago when occupancy was super high, and there was a balance between pushing rents versus occupancy.
Now, we are favoring occupancy. We do want to get the most rent we can get, but because of new supply in certain markets, we can't just sit there and wait for the higher rent.
We'll end up with vacant units for longer in many markets. It's a balancing act, but overall, what we've seen this year, we feel can continue for the next 12 to 18 months that we have insight.
Mario Saric
That would be the case for renewal spreads as well?
Dale Noseworthy
For renewals, yes. They're bouncing around a little bit, but no sizeable moves are expected.
Mario Saric
Then just maybe the last one, a general question on kind of the defense spending in Atlantic Canada. I don't know if you've come across it in terms of, we see all the projects that you highlight and some of them are quite substantial, but in terms of the cadence of expected employment growth coming from those projects, have you seen anything that kind of gives the expected job growth over the next 10 years coming from these initiatives?
Robert Richardson
Mario, we don't have that information. We do have the list of what's going to be invested here, and it's going to be over $110 billion.
The number is so large, it's almost like it's fanciful. The reality is this work is started on every one of these There's 10 projects I have in front of me, and every one of them is underway.
It's going to happen. I don't know the whole multiplier.
I was thinking about it when I was in school. They talked about government spending and how it flows through the marketplace, and we're seeing it, and our occupancy shows it.
I think that that's pretty important. Then I was curious.
I did a little snooping myself, and I asked ChatGPT to go and do a little work and find all the projects in Atlantic Canada, $50 million or more, that are not related to the defense, and it came back with $30 billion. For example, in Halifax right now, we have a $7 million $7 billion, pardon me, build with our new hospital.
There's more work being done on Churchill, and so that's a couple of billion in Newfoundland, and there's every province has additional things on the go. It really is an incredible tailwind that we find ourselves in right now.
Philip Fraser
Yeah. Mario, as an example, to get a little bit of real data to your question, the Irving Shipyard now has been going on for 15-plus years, thousands of people working there, and Lockheed Martin, one of the largest subcontractors for that sort of program of the frigates being built, they basically came out and said they expect to hire another 300 people just to sort of match and keep up with the contracts they have for the River-class battleships that are starting to be built in that shipyard.
There's a lot of these defense contractors that are here or will be coming here, and they have huge sort of demand for the employment base that they're going to need to help service all the real dollars being spent by the federal government. Yeah.
Mario Saric
Okay. Great, thanks for the colour.
Philip Fraser
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Kyle Stanley with Desjardins Securities. Please go ahead.
Kyle Stanley
Thanks. Morning, everyone.
You did some pretty attractively priced mortgage refinancing and then up financing so far in the first half. Is the expectation that the proceeds from the up financing, again at, I think roughly a 3.7% rate, which is pretty attractive, I guess, versus maybe where rates are headed in the last couple of weeks, will those proceeds be used to repay the maturities in the back half, kind of locking in that better rate and you can kind of [unclear] today's environment?
Erin Cleveland
I guess to date, most of those refis have been used for the NCIB program and just kind of our ongoing operations. In terms of repayments, I don't think we'd be looking specifically to any apartment mortgage repayments in the back half of the year.
Obviously, depending on what happens with rates, we'll keep an eye on it.
Kyle Stanley
Fair enough. Then just over to Eventide, how is the lease-up progressing there?
Obviously, I understand it's still very early, but just given the kind of supply environment in Halifax and the competitive pressures at the upper end of the market, I'm just curious how delivering a new project is going today and maybe where incentives might be and just want a general view of how that's progressing.
Philip Fraser
I think I can honestly say that we're a little disappointed in the speed of it being finishing up over the last few months, and we're still have our fingers crossed that we'll be able to have it complete and people will be able to move in the 1st of October or the 1st of November. That said, the good news is it's only 55 units.
The location is absolutely great, and the pre-leasing has been very strong. I think if it was open now, we'd have it basically well over half if not 3/4 full.
Today, we're sitting in the mid-20s, and there's leasing activity that's coming in on a weekly basis. We're just about ready to be able to have a show suite available to take people through.
That's one building I'm pretty sure is going to have a fairly fast lease-up, and the rates are holding from our pro forma calculation.
Kyle Stanley
Thanks. I guess in that scenario, maybe not fully reflective of the market if you were delivering a new build elsewhere, this one, you think location is one of the biggest drivers?
Philip Fraser
It's the location. Again, I'm sure you've seen it or know the location, it's just off Spring Garden in sort of a quiet cul-de-sac and across the street is our building.
Literally, what Robert said, this expansion of the hospital, this $8.8 billion, is about a 7-minute walk to it through a graveyard, and on the other side, you basically have the medical school and all the sort of university-related employment facilities plus Dalhousie. It's in a really good location.
Kyle Stanley
Okay. No, that makes sense, and I do remember seeing it before, I believe it.
That's it for me. I'll turn it back.
Thanks.
Philip Fraser
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Matt Kornack with National Bank of Canada Financial Markets. Please go ahead.
Matt Kornack
Morning, guys. Maybe first, Dale, for the MHC and commercial mortgages that you have, I think it's $110 million at almost a 5% interest rate, would the bulk of that be on the MHC portfolio, is there a component or meaningful component on the commercial space as well?
Dale Noseworthy
It would be a little more on the commercial.
Philip Fraser
Did you say what's the total?
Matt Kornack
110.
Philip Fraser
$100?
Dale Noseworthy
Yeah, $110.
Philip Fraser
We have 30 on the mall over in PEI
Dale Noseworthy
and maybe... The brewery.
The
Matt Kornack
brewery, yeah.
Philip Fraser
The brewery is
Dale Noseworthy
about, maybe it's a little...
Philip Fraser
About half, at most maybe $40 million commercial. Okay.
Matt Kornack
Is it fair to say, though, that with the sale of the MHC portfolio, the freed debt associated with it is at a bit higher interest rate, it tempers kind of some of the dilution maybe of selling higher cap rate MHC?
Dale Noseworthy
Yes.
Philip Fraser
Yes.
Dale Noseworthy
The debt levels are lower on it as a percentage of value compared to our whole portfolio, but yes, that would be higher.
Matt Kornack
I understand buying back stock at a discount to book when you're selling at book, but I guess it's price-dependent, but it sounds like the sales are fairly certain. Let's say the stock trades higher, you don't buy back stock, would the near-term view be to deleverage or would you get back to being more active on the development side or maybe even acquire assets on the apartment side?
Philip Fraser
I think the important thing you're asking is if the price does go up and it becomes less accretive from a buyback, do we go back looking at the other three alternatives, and the answer would be yes, to whatever extent. It depends on the pricing, but obviously, all those other avenues of growth or allocation of capital will be looked at.
Then
Matt Kornack
if we look at the markets, it's pretty stark in Atlantic Canada versus the rest of your portfolio outside of Atlantic Canada in terms of performance today. Obviously, hopefully, the west and Ontario will normalize.
Is it attractive to look at opportunities, look at Newfoundland, it also is doing quite well in those type of markets, and is there the ability to buy at reasonable or higher cap rates in a market like Newfoundland or to build there? Just interested in kind of how you're thinking about Atlantic versus the rest of the country.
Philip Fraser
Matt, you're asking what are the current opportunities for acquisitions in Atlantic Canada?
Matt Kornack
If that would be of interest. Again, there's this kind of new versus old, build versus buy existing.
Jury's out as to what's better, but interested in what your thoughts are from a capital allocation standpoint.
Philip Fraser
I think I'll answer that by saying we continue to look at all our markets across Canada, what kind of level of activity from an acquisition or disposition of other sort of owners of either apartments or that's all really what we're looking at. We are keeping a pretty good close eye on transaction and what's available in Atlantic Canada, for sure.
Right now, we're just lookers as opposed to saying that we want to buy something.
Matt Kornack
Makes sense. Then maybe lastly, just turning back to the operations side of things, good to see new leasing spreads stabilize.
Is that figure net of incentives? I know incentives ticked up a little bit, but just trying to understand if that's a net number or if it's a gross number.
Dale Noseworthy
That is gross. That is not net, but incentives year-over-year for many of those units that turned have been pretty consistent.
If we looked at incentives, it would not look very different.
Matt Kornack
Mark-to-market stable, presumably, even though you're pushing through rents, it seems like you're getting some market rent growth in different segments of the market. Do you have, with your crystal ball, and I understand we're not going to hold you to this, but have a sense as to what the cadence is going to be in terms of trajectory of market rents in Atlantic Canada versus maybe what you'd expect over the next couple of years in Ontario and Alberta?
Kind of
Philip Fraser
we're all kind of shaking heads thinking we [laughter] can't really come up with an answer for that one, Matt.
Matt Kornack
Is the hope that while Atlantic Canada maybe is normalizing and mark-to-markets are being achieved, that Ontario and Alberta will be turning in the opposite direction and you'll be pretty stable from here on out at these pretty good
Philip Fraser
I agree with that.
Dale Noseworthy
Yes.
Matt Kornack
low to mid single-digits NOI growth?
Dale Noseworthy
Yes.
Matt Kornack
Okay. I won't ask you to delve any further into the future,
Philip Fraser
but
Matt Kornack
appreciate the color. In fairness,
Philip Fraser
some weeks we actually see that in Alberta or Ontario that they turn positive, but consistently month-over-month not there yet, but some weeks they do, depending on what is actually being released.
Matt Kornack
Fair enough. Thanks, guys.
Operator
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press *1. You now have a question from Dean Wilkinson with CIBC.
Please go ahead.
Dean Wilkinson
Thank you. Morning, everybody.
Phil, maybe just a question more on the supply or potential supply response to all that activity that is going to happen in Atlantic Canada, if consider the market balanced, maybe. Is there enough juice for developers or yourself to put new shovels in the ground and build something?
I look at Eventide, maybe it's a little on the higher end, but how do you think that dynamic looks going forward? Are cost pressures coming down or would a spate of construction actually start to push things up and you see an inflationary spiral there and then ultimately flow through to rents as well?
Philip Fraser
I think the supply, and this is only really my opinion, is that it's going to get tighter over the next couple of years until we get adjustments and more sort of contractors come into this market if demand is truly there on the sort of the building out of housing. A lot of the labor is going to be concentrated on the defense sort of the non-residential side of it.
Basically even the hospital, for the last 2 years, they've been just pouring the sort of the concrete basement, the underground, and it's really just starting to come out, and then that's when you get all the trades moving in that have to get work in there. I just see that the labor side of it is still very tight in Halifax in particular.
The other markets, not so much, and it depends, and there's going to be real opportunities maybe in a sort of Fredericton or Saint John and then the one market that is undersupplied is St. John's, Newfoundland.
That's really what I see, but eventually, once everything starts basically coming together, we're going to need more housing across metro here in Halifax. If you look at and you read the papers, there's already slowdowns in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, maybe not so much in Alberta, but we're going to need some housing in Ontario as well.
Dean Wilkinson
They'll in all likelihood, as history has been, kind of chasing that after the demand comes in, and that's probably going to put some pressures there. That's good.
Thanks.
Philip Fraser
Thank you.
Operator
There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Philip Fraser for closing remarks.
Please continue.
Philip Fraser
Once again, thank you for participating and listening to our Q2 conference call today, and we look forward to reporting Q3 financial results on November 4th, 2026.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation.
You may now disconnect.
Already premium?