John McLaren
Analyst · BMO Capital Markets
Thank you, Gary. Our solid performance for the fourth quarter and full year 2020 demonstrate the resilience of our operations across manufactured housing, RV resorts and marinas. We benefited from heightened demand for our RV resorts in the second half of the year and the steadiness of manufactured housing through all of 2020. Our same community results reflect the stability of the platform as we work through the challenges of the pandemic. For the fourth quarter, same community NOI increased by 2.1%. Excluding direct COVID-19-related expenses of $300,000, our same community NOI growth would have been 2.4%. In the fourth quarter, same community NOI was driven by a 5.7% growth in revenues, reflecting a 3.8% increase in weighted average monthly rent and a 180 basis point occupancy gain. Breaking it down further, manufactured housing revenues grew by 4.8%, annual RV grew by 1.9% and transient RV grew by almost 18%. If it were not for the mandated closures of our resorts in California starting in December as well as the continued Canadian travel restrictions, our fourth quarter transient RV results would have been even stronger. The good news is that travel restrictions were lifted in California at the beginning of February, and we have already begun to welcome our guests to these resorts. Expenses in the fourth quarter were elevated predominantly due to the costs associated with the pandemic, along with higher payroll, supply and repairs and utilities at RV resorts had at extended seasons. For the full year, same community NOI increased 4%. Excluding $2.4 million of direct COVID-related expenses, same community NOI would have increased by 4.4%. This growth reflects a 3.6% revenue increase and a 3% increase in same community expenses. The revenue growth was primarily driven by a 4.5% increase in annual RV revenues and 5.6% growth from manufactured housing revenues. Same community transient RV revenues were down 5% for the year, reflecting the delayed opening of 44 of our seasonal resorts due to COVID-related travel restrictions in the late spring and early summer. Our RV transient business saw a meaningful rebound with same community transient RV revenues growing by 5% in the third quarter and 17.8% in the fourth quarter as compared to the same periods of 2019. Our RV property performance will be affected in the first quarter by the California shelter-in-place order that ran through the early part of February. Additionally, the continued Canadian border closure has prevented some of our guests from returning to our Southern resorts for the season. Combined these 2 events are estimated to have an impact of $8 million to $10 million to transient RV revenues, which is reflected in our first quarter and annual 2021 guidance. Even as the impact of the pandemic persists, forward bookings for the second quarter are pacing meaningfully ahead with current on the books revenues 18% above this time last year. From a total portfolio perspective, we gained 578 revenue-producing sites for the fourth quarter, bringing our total for the year to over 2,500. The addition of these sites increased our total portfolio occupancy to 97.3% from 96.4% a year ago. Of our revenue-producing site gains for the year, 1,070 or roughly 43%, were in our manufactured housing expansion communities. For the year, 863 transient RV sites were converted to annual leases. The development of ground-up and expansion sites is a consistent growth driver for us. In 2020, we delivered over 1,300 vacant ground-up and expansion sites. These recently completed expansion ground-up development sites will contribute to growth in 2021 and beyond as they fill up and stabilize. Additionally, we currently have over 10,000 zoned and entitled sites in our portfolio for expansion and ground-up developments, which, when developed, should contribute to our growth in future years. Moving on to home sales. We sold 782 homes for the quarter and 2,866 homes for the year. 850 of these home sales were conversions of renters to owners in 2020. We saw new home gross profit expansion of 3.6% year-over-year, driven by strong margins in Colorado, Connecticut and Ontario. For the year, average home sales prices rose for both new and preowned homes by 11.3% and 8.8%, respectively. The new home sales and our ground-up and redevelopments in Colorado and Florida contributed to this increase. Brokered home sales throughout Sun's portfolio saw a 15% increase in total sales year-over-year as the resale market was strong as ever. Average brokered home prices in our communities increased by over 21% in 2020. A healthy resale market is very important for our success as new and existing residents see the value of choosing to live in a Sun community given the quality and level of ongoing reinvestment that goes into our properties. Sun has maintained strong rent collection rates throughout 2020. Total rent collection rates for manufactured housing communities and annual RVs for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 were over 96% and 97%, respectively, after adjusting for the impact of COVID-19-related hardship deferrals and prepaid rent balances. January collections were over 97% for both manufactured housing and annual RV. Through February 16, we have collected 95% for both our manufactured housing communities and for our annual RVs, which is consistent with prior year collections. With respect to Safe Harbor, we closed our acquisition on October 30, 2020. The fourth quarter performance was solid with a 2-month NOI contribution of $17.9 million. COVID-related tailwinds like the surge of new boat ownership, which Gary discussed, helped drive strong wet slip rental and on land winter storage revenue. Given the ability to enjoy the outdoors in a safe and self-control environment, we anticipate marinas to be an important growth driver for the coming years. In closing, 2020 posed both numerous challenges and opportunities for Sun. We have grown as an organization and are stronger than ever. We are proud of our team members' dedication to our residents and guests and are grateful for their efforts in a truly challenging year. Karen will now discuss our financial results. Karen?