Chartwell Retirement Residences Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Chartwell Retirement Residences EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -C$0.00
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Chartwell Retirement Residences Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $336.74 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Chartwell Retirement Residences Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/6/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Friday, August 7, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Chartwell is in the business of serving and caring for Canada's seniors, committed to its vision of Making People's Lives BETTER and to providing a happier, healthier, and more fulfilling life experience for its residents. Chartwell is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate trust which indirectly owns and operates a complete range of seniors housing communities, from independent living through to assisted living and long-term care. Chartwell is one of the largest operators in Canada, serving approximately 25,000 residents in four provinces across the country.

Chartwell Retirement Residences Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q2 performance: FFO per unit rose 16.7% year over year to CAD 0.28, marking the company’s 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Same-property occupancy increased 320 basis points to 94.3%, while adjusted NOI grew 11.9%.
• Positive Sentiment: Leasing momentum remains favorable: Net permanent move-ins exceeded move-outs by 80 units, personalized tours increased 11% quarter over quarter, and management expects same-property occupancy to reach approximately 95% in September, supported by the historically strong fall leasing season.
• Positive Sentiment: Portfolio expansion is accelerating: Chartwell has completed or announced more than CAD 1 billion of acquisitions in 2026, including a 30% interest in 23 Seasons residences, and has announced four development projects representing 828 suites. Management also sees a potential longer-term pipeline of roughly 6,400 suites.
• Neutral Sentiment: Capital recycling and financing remain central to the strategy: The company is selling non-core properties to fund newer assets, while maintaining approximately CAD 614 million of liquidity and a 7.0x net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio. However, upcoming debt maturities and higher refinancing rates could pressure finance costs.

Presentation

[Operator]

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, welcome to the Chartwell second quarter 2026 results conference call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Vlad Volodarski, CEO. Please go ahead.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Thank you, Kristin. Good morning, thank you for joining us today. There is a slide presentation to accompany this conference call available on our website at chartwell.com under the investor relations tab. Joining me are Karen Sullivan, President and Chief Operating Officer, Jeffrey Brown, Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer, and Warren Chu, Chief Technology Officer. Before we begin, I direct you to the cautionary statements on slide two, because during this call, we will make statements containing forward-looking information and non-GAAP and other financial measures. Our MD&A and other securities filings contain information about the assumptions, risks, and uncertainties inherent in such forward-looking statements and details of such non-GAAP and other financial measures. More specifically, I direct you to the disclosures in our Q2 2026 MD&A under the heading Risks and Uncertainties and Forward-Looking Information for a discussion of risks and uncertainties.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

These documents can be found on our website or on SEDAR+ website. Turning to slide three. In Q2 2026, our teams delivered another strong quarter of operating and financial results, with FFO per unit increasing 17% compared to Q2 2025. This marks our 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit FFO per unit growth. We've been making great progress advancing our portfolio growth and optimization strategy. Year-to-date, we have completed and announced over $1 billion of acquisitions, including our new partnership with Fengate Asset Management, spanning 23 properties and nearly 3,000 suites. In the last two years, we have invested over $3.2 billion in acquisitions of high-quality, newer residences across the country at a significant discount to replacement costs. Our investment team continues to pursue other opportunities in the market. At the same time, we're building our own pipeline for future growth through partnerships with reputable developers.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

In July, we announced four development projects representing 828 suites across Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia. These projects will bring modern, purpose-built residences into attractive markets where demand continues to grow. We also continued our non-core asset disposition program, repositioning our portfolio towards high growth, newer, more efficient assets in our core markets. Far in 2026, we completed $167 million of non-core asset sales and announced agreement to sell two other properties for $132.8 million. Our operations teams are busy developing exciting programs for our residents. In wellness, dining experience, activities, care, marketing, and sales, the teams are constantly enhancing our service delivery to cater to the evolving needs and wants of the new generation of seniors who are coming to our residences. Our strong financial results reflect the outstanding work of our residences teams and support teams across the country.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Every day, they deliver exceptional experiences to residents and families, and I'm deeply grateful for their dedication, professionalism, and commitment to continuous improvement. With that, I'll pass the mic to my partners. Karen will discuss our operating initiatives. Jeff will review financial results, and Jonathan will provide an update on our growth and portfolio optimization activities. Karen.

[Karen Sullivan, President and COO at Chartwell]

Thanks, Vlad. Moving on to slide four. We had another strong quarter of leasing activity with a positive net permanent move-in to permanent move out of plus 80 units with contributions from all operating platforms. Our marketing strategies continue to be very effective with an 11% increase in personalized tours from marketing sources quarter-over-quarter. Our conversion ratio of marketing initial contacts to personalized tours was 50% in Q2 of this year, compared to 44% in Q2 2025. We recently developed a new brand promise, Joy is Ageless, and launched a marketing campaign to share this message across TV, radio, out-of-home channels, Facebook, and YouTube. The campaign expanded Chartwell's reach through millions of video views, including over five million just combining YouTube and Facebook. In a La Presse study, a prominent Quebec online media platform, 81% of respondents agreed that the campaign projected a positive image of Chartwell.

[Karen Sullivan, President and COO at Chartwell]

I encourage you to go to the homepage of our website and see this fresh and dynamic approach that focuses on today's generation of seniors and what brings them joy. In April, we hosted a very successful open house event that generated the highest number of personalized tours in the past 12 months. We are preparing for another open house event in September. Turning to slide five. In terms of expense control, we reduced our staffing agency costs by 43% year-to-date 2026 compared to 2025 through our continued focus on recruitment and retention activities. In order to continue to strengthen our sales and operating standards and initiatives across our residences, we have held several continuing education sessions this past quarter, including sales training for our retirement living consultants and general managers, and communities of practice for our management teams.

[Karen Sullivan, President and COO at Chartwell]

We also hosted a strategic planning and education event for the senior operations team focused on continuously improving and positioning our offerings to meet the expectations of the baby boomer generation of residents beginning to choose retirement living In Q2, we have been very busy with integrating our new acquisitions, including the six homes in Ontario previously owned by Sifton, located in Southwestern Ontario, Waterloo, and Mississauga, as well as Chartwell Palermo Village in Oakville. By all accounts, these have gone very smoothly as we use our newly defined cross-functional approach that includes day one non-negotiables and then milestones at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days post-closing. We're also well into the operational integration of the Chartwell Fengate properties in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario, which we have been completing in tranches that will be finished by mid-August.

[Karen Sullivan, President and COO at Chartwell]

Finally, I want to take a moment to talk about the progress that has been made at Chartwell Churchill House, a 98 unit residence in North Vancouver. In 2025, we made the decision to reposition this property by concluding our assisted living arrangement with the Fraser Health Authority and returning 31 government-funded suites to private pay and investing $3 million in common area upgrades. I'm pleased to report that based on this strategy, occupancy has increased from 78% in January to 92% in July, and the operating margin increased from approximately 48% prior to the change to 53%. I'll now turn it over to Jeff to take you through our financial results.

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Thank you, Karen. As shown on slide six, in Q2 2026, net loss was $1.3 million compared to $5.7 million in Q2 2025. FFO grew to 90 and a half million in Q2 2026, an increase of 34% compared to Q2 2025, and our FFO per unit grew $0.04 or 16.7% to $0.28 in Q2 2026 compared to Q2 2025. Our reported FFO does not include $2.8 million or $0.01 per unit of income guarantees related to recently acquired properties.

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Q2 2026 FFO growth benefited from higher adjusted NOI of $27.6 million, partially offset by higher finance costs of $4 million and higher G&A expenses of $1.7 million. In Q2 2026, our same property occupancy increased 320 basis points to 94.3%, and our same property adjusted NOI increased $9.2 million or 11.9%. We also had an 8.1% increase in our NOI per occupied suite.

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Slide seven summarizes our same property operating results for each platform. All of our platforms posted occupancy gains in Q2 2026 compared to Q2 2025, and all are operating above 90% occupancy, which positively impacted our results. Our Western Canada platform same property adjusted NOI increased $4.4 million or 19.5%. Our Ontario platform same property adjusted NOI increased $3 million or 7.4%, and our Quebec platform same property adjusted NOI increased $1.8 million or 12.3%.

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Turning to slide eight, at August 7th, 2026, liquidity amounted to approximately $614 million, which included $219 million of cash and cash equivalents and $395 million of borrowing capacity on our credit facility. On May 7th, 2026, we filed a new final base shelf prospectus and a new prospectus supplement for our ATM program to allow us to issue up to an additional $500 million of trust units, which will further support our transaction activity.

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

During the three months ended June 30th, 2026, we raised total gross proceeds of $72.7 million through the program at an average price of 2174. Our balance sheet remains in a very strong position with interest coverage ratio of three and a half times and net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 7.0x. We continue to improve our financing flexibility, having grown our unencumbered asset pool to $2.2 billion.

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

For the remainder of 2026, our debt maturities include $227.1 million of mortgages with a weighted average interest rate of 2.8% and a $250 million senior unsecured debenture with an interest rate of 6%. As of August 6, 2026, we estimate the 10 year CMHC insured mortgage rate to be approximately 4.17% and the five year unsecured debenture rate to be approximately 4.38%. I will now turn the call to Jonathan to discuss our recent acquisitions and portfolio optimization activities.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

Thank you, Jeff. Turning to slide nine, we continue to execute on our portfolio strategy of enhancing our asset base to generate increased quality NOI. I will highlight some of the deals that we've completed in and subsequent to Q2 2026. On June 2nd, 2026, we completed the acquisition of a 30% ownership interest in the Seasons Retirement Communities portfolio through a joint arrangement with Fengate Asset Management, a leading alternative investment manager and real estate developer. The portfolio includes 23 seniors housing communities comprising 2,943 suites in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. The integration of these residences into Chartwell's management platform is well underway.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

The purchase price for our interest was $382.5 million and was partially satisfied by the proportionate assumption of approximately $208.8 million of mortgages with a weighted average interest rate of 4.46% and a weighted average term to maturity of five years, with the remainder paid in cash. Under our agreement with Fengate, both parties have contractual rights that may result in our acquiring an additional 20% ownership in the portfolio upon the achievement of specified milestones.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

As part of the ongoing strategic partnership, Chartwell will have the option to participate in Fengate's future development of retirement residences in Ontario. Should Chartwell elect to participate in any such development, Chartwell will provide operations management services, and the parties will have certain put and call rights once the residence is stabilized. The partnership brings together two experienced organizations with a shared commitment to high-quality seniors housing and long-term stewardship of retirement residences.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

On June 3rd, 2026, we completed the acquisition of Palermo Village Retirement Residence, comprising 116 suites in Oakville, Ontario, for $43 million, which was settled in cash. On July 2nd, 2026, we completed the sale of nine non-core properties in Ontario for $117.9 million. Net proceeds were $82.3 million, after $2 million of transaction costs and repayment of $33.6 million of mortgages with a weighted average interest rate of 3.3% and weighted average term to maturity of four point three years.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

On July 16th, 2026, we completed the acquisition of a 50% ownership interest in Chartwell Le Montcalm, a 283 suite retirement residence in Candiac, Quebec, for a purchase price of $43.3 million before closing costs and working capital adjustments. The purchase price included the proportionate assumption of the $22.3 million mortgage, bearing interest at 6%, maturing on October 1st, 2026, with the balance settled in cash.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

On July 24th, 2026, we announced four new development projects in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, representing 828 suites, offering a mix of seniors' apartments, independent living, and Memory Living. The projects are in partnership with experienced, vertically integrated developers in each jurisdiction, and through forward purchase agreements, enhance Chartwell's future acquisition pipeline. On August 4th, 2026, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% ownership interest in a retirement residence in the Greater Toronto Area for a purchase price of $136 million. This transaction is expected to close in Q3 2026. On August 4th, 2026, we also entered into a definitive agreement to sell a property in Ontario for $41.8 million. This transaction is subject to customary adjustments in accordance with the terms of the purchase and sale agreement and is expected to close in Q3 2026.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

Finally, on October 4th, 2026, we entered into a definitive agreement to sell a second property in Ontario for $91 million. This transaction is subject to customary adjustments in accordance with the terms of the purchase and sale agreement and is expected to close in Q3 2026. This property has an in-place CMHC-insured mortgage with an outstanding balance of $21.3 million, bearing interest at 3.13%, maturing in 2028. In 2026, we continued to grow our portfolio under management by over $2 billion and invested $1 billion at our ownership share, not including our development pipeline commitments. We are doing so prudently, shifting capital from non-core assets to strategic core residences while taking advantage of our strong access to capital, including through our ATM program. We continue to evaluate several interesting opportunities to grow and enhance the quality of our real estate portfolio.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

We remain disciplined in how we approach underwriting, diligence, and integration of our new To deliver enhanced services to the residents, mitigate disruption to operations, and achieve our required investment returns. As disclosed, with some examples above, we are engaged in discussions with local and national developers across the country and have created a meaningful pipeline of state-of-the-art assets to bring into our portfolio. We pursue such developments in a prudent manner with a preference for off-balance sheet development similar to our arrangement in Quebec, while ensuring that our balance sheet will be able to support our forward purchase commitments. We intend to continue on this path of optimizing our portfolio through strategic acquisitions, prudent off-balance sheet development with sophisticated partners, the diversification of our sources of capital, and the divestiture of non-core assets. I'll turn the call back to Vlad to wrap up.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Thank you, Jonathan. Turning to slide 10, I remain confident in the momentum of our business and our long-term growth prospects. The fundamentals supporting retirement living in Canada remain very strong. Demand continues to grow while new supply is expected to remain limited for the foreseeable future. This creates a favorable backdrop for occupancy, NOI, and earnings growth. With 30,000 residents across the country and 12,000 dedicated team members, a sophisticated management platform, and strong culture, Chartwell is well-positioned to benefit from these trends. We continue to grow and renew our portfolio through acquisitions, development partnerships, and strategic capital recycling, adding newer and more efficient residences in attractive markets. At the same time, we are becoming a more sophisticated and efficient organization. Our teams continue to streamline processes and adopt technology, automation, and AI-enabled tools responsibly, helping us serve residents better while improving productivity and execution across the business.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Our culture remains one of our greatest strengths. It enables us to integrate newly acquired properties successfully and consistently deliver results that meet or exceed underwriting expectations. It also supports the strong pipeline of future growth opportunities we're building through acquisitions and development partnerships. Most importantly, our focus remains on our residents. We are committed to delivering exceptional experiences, enhancing wellness programs, expanding care and support services, and helping residents remain in the communities they know and love as their needs evolve. Initiatives such as our partnership with Dr. Greg Wells in developing Chartwell's proprietary resident and employee wellness programs reinforce that commitment. What gives me the greatest confidence is our people. Their dedication, compassion, and relentless focus on improving the lives of the residents is the foundation of our success. I'm incredibly grateful for everything they do.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

I will now close our prepared remarks with a story from one of our residences, as pictured on slide 11. Dining remains one of the defining elements of the Chartwell experience and an important part of our hospitality strategy. This quarter, that commitment was recognized in Quebec, where our team at Chartwell Cité-Jardin received the People's Choice Award at the OUI le Vélo Café Chefs Challenge. Chartwell Shawinigan earned the 2026 Bonjour Résidence Signature Award for excellence in nutrition and gourmet dining. These recognitions reflect the dedication of our food services teams and our continued focus on delivering an exceptional resident experience. Thank you for your attention this morning. We would now be pleased to answer your questions.

[Operator]

We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Lorne Kalmar with Desjardins. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Lorne Kalmar, Analyst at Desjardins]

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Just wanted to get an idea on the same property NOI growth outlook now that occupancies have largely reached stabilized levels. How much longer do you think you guys can do double-digit same property NOI growth, and what are the levers that should continue to drive that?

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Sure. Good morning, Lorne. We have outlined in our three-year strategy that we think we can continue to deliver rate growth above 4% and DOE growth below 4%. That combined, I think you can model out what that can drive in NOI growth. We also have substantial occupancy growth opportunities still in our growth portfolio. That portfolio sits around 90% occupancy. As we continue to sort of pursue our acquisition and portfolio optimization strategy, that will also drive significant NOI growth in the business.

[Lorne Kalmar, Analyst at Desjardins]

Okay. On the development agreement, the Batimo one I think was pretty explicit, for the other three, just wanted to get an idea if there were different mechanisms like puts and calls like you have with Batimo, or if the acquisition is more fixed in terms of timing, who's in the driver's seat, if for some reason, if you were in a position from a balancing perspective to acquire one of these assets on stabilization or completion, would you still be forced to do so, or is there some wiggle room there?

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

Yeah, I'll take that one. Each one has its variation, but they are largely based on the Batimo model. That model is that we align with a vertically integrated developer. We opine on and sign off on the plans and specs and the location. We provide operations management services, and lease it up. The variation in these models is on some of them, we will commit to acquire a 50% interest at construction completion and the balance on stabilization. On others, that acquisition is done at stabilization entirely.

[Lorne Kalmar, Analyst at Desjardins]

Okay. I just wanted to get a sense of if when you get to completion, you have to buy it, or do they put it to you? I'm just trying to get an understanding of how that part of the process works.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

Again, there are slight variations in the agreements, generally, there will be a put call mechanism.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

similarly

[Lorne Kalmar, Analyst at Desjardins]

Okay

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

similarly to the Batimo structure, we view these developments as our own. The buildings will bear a Chartwell name from the day of opening. We are basically getting access to future acquisition opportunities without taking on the development risk and construction risk.

[Lorne Kalmar, Analyst at Desjardins]

Okay, understood. Maybe just one last one. I was wondering, do you guys see any more meaningful opportunities to leverage the Chartwell platform and grow the management business? Obviously, the Seasons deal was one such opportunity. Just wondering if there's anything else out there, whether you actually acquire any interest in the portfolio or not.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Well, that is the principal difference, Lorne. We are not going to be in a third-party management business where we do not have significant ownership interest in the real estate portfolio. The way the market prices, I guess, this business is all the value that is created by management that creates the real estate. For us, part of our strategy is to diversify our capital sources and potentially there'll be more partnerships with other capital providers. We will always aim to retain a significant ownership interest in the properties.

[Lorne Kalmar, Analyst at Desjardins]

Okay. Thank you so much. I'll turn it back.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Jonathan Kelcher with TD Cowen. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Thanks. Good morning. Just going back to the same property results. First, maybe on the occupancy. If I look, I see Western Canada and Quebec occupancy kind of held flat versus Q1. Ontario was down a little bit. Can you maybe give us some color as to why?

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Yeah. Good morning, Jonathan. That is more seasonal. We are seeing growth in all of the platforms and are forecasting that same property portfolio now to get up to that 95% level in September.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. Just a function of kind of a tougher winter/spring, and it's not really

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Nothing indicative

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Not really a new

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

portfolio other than the seasonality of that winter season.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Secondly, on the expense side, the same property expense side. On the occupied suite it's fine, up 3.5% I think. The overall same property expenses were up 7%. Can you maybe give a little bit of color as to why? Was that just sort of elevated marketing spend or some timing on spend? What kind of drove that?

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

I think it was primarily timing. Q1 expenses were probably a little lighter and Q2 a little heavier because of that. If you look at year-to-date expense level, it's probably more balanced and more indicative of that run rate spend growth or expense growth.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. If I look at the first half this year in terms of overall expense growth for the same property, kind of think of that for the second half?

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Yeah. Some of it is a function of the continued occupancy growth. If you look at the DOE per occupied suite, it was up 1.9% the first half.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Yep. For sure. Okay, thanks. I'll turn it back.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Himanshu Gupta with Scotiabank. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Thank you and good morning. Just going back on this Ontario occupancy dip in Q2. I think you mentioned mostly seasonality, and that has come back in Q3. Just wondering, was there any pricing adjustments made to bring back the occupancy in Q3?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Yeah, it's coming back into Q3, as Jeff pointed out. Himanshu, no, there wasn't any specific pricing adjustments. The way the seasonality works, particularly in Ontario, it's always a bit more pronounced than the rest of the country. If you think about what causes the seasonality decline, it's not the departures as much. It is less leasing being done in the winter months. Usually you see the pronounced impact of very strong move-ins in December manifesting themselves in Q1 occupancy, and then you have a bit slower lease-up during the winter months that actually show up more in Q2 than in Q1. This is nothing unusual, and generally to be expected. For the last couple of years you couldn't see it because the occupancy was growing very quickly everywhere. This is a more usual seasonality pattern that we're seeing this year.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay, thank you. That's helpful. Maybe any markets in Ontario or in general on your watch list beginning to see more new supply or more construction activity going on? Or maybe impact from new LTC supply?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Not really. There's no new construction to speak of that has started at this point that we know of. Obviously, we announced a few projects. They will start in Q3. There'll probably be some others, but at this point in time, nothing's on the watch list. Remember, anything that's being built is large buildings, so takes at least two years to build them. They're not going to become competition for at least two years, if not longer. From our perspective, we haven't seen much construction going on anywhere in our markets. As we spoke before, there were some markets that got impacted more than others because of the pre-COVID oversupply, like Durham and Ottawa. They're coming back, and maybe it's just going to take a little longer for those to come back. Again, it just depends on the properties.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Many of our properties in those markets are full today.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Thank you. Just turning attention to the growth portfolio. NOI margin, obviously pretty nice there. Almost mid 40%. Occupancy, obviously you mentioned 90% and there's more room for occupancy. Do you see more operating leverage as well? As that occupancy goes up, margins can stabilize at what levels?

[Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell]

Yeah. Hi, Himanshu. We do see some more opportunity in operating margin level as occupancy continues to grow in that portfolio. That contains all the acquisitions we've been doing over the last couple of years. They're typically newer, larger, higher margin opportunity properties.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Are they more like going to be around 50% stabilized or just above mid-40%? Any sense? I know these are larger deal properties vintage.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Sorry, Himanshu, can you repeat that question? There was some static noise.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

My question was at the growth NOI margin, do you think that will stabilize High 40% margin or 50% margin, given, as you mentioned, these are newer properties, larger properties as well.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

I think there's just a variety of properties in this bucket. Some of them will definitely be in 50%, some of them will be lower. It's probably safer to assume that they will be kind of mid 40%, a little higher than our same property portfolio margins. It really depends on the composition of that bucket. As you know, changing now quarterly.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Yeah. No, that's a good point. Thank you. Maybe just a last question on the acquisition disposition activity. GTA acquisition you announced, looks like a larger property. Anything on the pricing on dollar per suite basis? Any color on that GTA property, on pricing?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Yeah, it's a larger, correctly. It's a larger property. It's done at sort of similar cap rates that we've been seeing lately for good quality properties in strong markets. Kind of high 5%, low 6% is what our underwriting would be on this property.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

That continue to be a certain discount to replacement costs on these ones?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

We think it's at some discount to replacement costs, although, I think Jonathan spoke about it at the last call. That gap has been narrowing now as both construction costs growth stabilized and there's more capital chasing high-quality properties. It's certainly not a 30% discount to replacement costs as we've been seeing before, but we think it's still below replacement costs today.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Got it. Okay. Maybe just the last one here. I know you've been active on dispositions. Any change in the disposition strategy in the context of competition review earlier this year? Are you still targeting older properties or now certain markets where you might have higher concentration as well?

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

No, there's no change in our disposition strategy. We've identified a number of non-core assets that we do plan on moving out of the portfolio over the next two or so years. We're seeing, as Vlad mentioned, a lot of capital, new capital in the sector. We would expect to see success in selling those non-core assets as we see a lot of interest. The competition issues are very local. We have properties across the country, and we are a big player, but when we're looking at any competitive issues, it's at the very micro level. As those issues come up, we have sufficient scale to address it. Right now it's not really affecting our strategy.

[Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. Very helpful. I'll turn it back. Thank you guys.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Pammi Bir with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Pammi Bir, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Thanks. Good morning. I just wanted to come back to the 95% same property occupancy target. I think just based on the forecast through Q3, I think you'll need to hit maybe 96% as an average for Q4. Just curious, what signs are you seeing that maybe give you the confidence that we'll see that pickup?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Well, our leasing, as Karen pointed out, has been pretty strong. We're seeing continuing strong demand for our services. Historically, our Q4 is the strongest leasing season. It starts in September and goes to November, December. We expect that those historical trends will continue, and we will see a strong pickup into Q4.

[Pammi Bir, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

I guess, Vlad, is the bulk of that really coming from Ontario?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Well, there's more opportunity in Ontario, so it's fair to say that it should come mostly from Ontario. Although, again, sometimes people ask us a question, "What's the highest occupancy that you can normally maintain?" Our answer is, we don't have the data points to point to say, "It was 98% five years ago, so it should be that." We do have properties that are running at 100% occupancy for three years in a row without a day of revenue loss. That's a long-winded answer to say that we also expect contributions from Western Canada and Quebec. They have less opportunity, but they can continue to grow occupancy in the properties that are not yet at 100%.

[Pammi Bir, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Okay. Just maybe to clarify, none of the pickup, I guess, in Q4 would really be a result in any sort of shift in the mix, maybe any asset sales that are currently in the same property bucket but might be sold in Q4?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

At this time, we do not have any significant plans to show, or at least deals are not progressed far enough for that to happen on scale that would change that composition of that bucket significantly.

[Pammi Bir, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Got it. Okay. Just, again, nice to see some of the, I guess, new partnerships from a development standpoint. Can you talk about maybe what else is in the works and how that pipeline may or may not maybe expand over the next year or so?

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

Sure. We've announced four. As you know, we have an established partnership in Quebec, and we expect the pipeline to continue to grow through that partnership. In the rest of the country, we have either established or are working on a couple at least partnerships in each of the provinces that we hope will be modeled on the Batimo relationship. We've had success, as we've announced, and we would expect to announce more in the coming quarters.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Bri, maybe just to build on that, somewhere in our investor presentation, we identified opportunity to build close to 6,400 suites across our portfolio. They're all not going to be built in the next couple of years, but this is over a longer period of time. All of these are potential opportunities, either because we have excess land that we already own or the discussions that are progressing with various development partners. There's been quite an increased interest from developers in our asset class now that the multi-residential development is not progressing as fast. Our expectation is certainly, and the team is working very hard to continue to build more of that pipeline going forward.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Having said all of that, we do have guidelines that we established for ourselves to make sure that our future purchase commitments are not going to put an excessive strain on our balance sheet.

[Pammi Bir, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

That's very helpful. Thanks very much. Vlad, I will turn it back.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Giuliano Thornhill with National Bank. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Giuliano Thornhill, Analyst at National Bank]

Hey, guys. Good morning, everyone. I just wanted to stick with the development partnership announcements. I guess my first question is just, I know Western Canada is probably a little skinnier in your portfolio. Why do these make good investments for you right now and for the future? Is it something about the market that you like or just supply-demand in that area?

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Well, it's a combination of things. Definitely we're only going to the markets that we think that has growth potential, has excess unmet demand. The other part of it is we're building buildings that are a new generation of buildings that we think will be a lot more desirable for the new generation of seniors that we serve, that would have larger amenity areas and more robust service offering, that both between our operations team and real estate team, we're designing these buildings in that shape and form. As much as we like investing capital back to the existing property portfolio and upgrading our own properties, and we're doing quite a good job at that, new buildings have something that these old buildings cannot offer, and you cannot buy with money repositioning the older buildings.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

This is all done with the goal of improving our portfolio to the new age of residences, and creating growth opportunities for ourselves where we do not have to compete with others for high-quality properties.

[Giuliano Thornhill, Analyst at National Bank]

Just kind of get into the terms of the partnerships. Is this yourselves kind of dictating the terms, or just because you have introduced us quite a few kind of new structures now, I'm just wondering if that was more like a mutual agreement, or if this was like you had to make the terms for the projects just to get them to buy with the partner, rather than keeping a kind of more standard development like the Batimo structure?

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

Well, our objective is to standardize these terms and base them on the Batimo model. Of course, every time you talk to a different counterparty, they're going to have their own interests, and what's important to them might not be the same as what's important to another party, so there will be some variations to those agreements. By and large, we're on the same model, which I described a few minutes ago, which is we're aligning with vertically integrated partners who put on their balance sheet the development. We provide the management and the oversight, and the design oversight, and we acquire at the back end either a construction completion or a stabilization or some mix of the two. At a high level, they are all on the same terms, and there will be some slight variations.

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

Of course, we might be willing to accept more variation for the perfect site than in other cases.

[Giuliano Thornhill, Analyst at National Bank]

Just if cap rates compress or expand, is there anything? Who ultimately kind of captures that value? Is there anything to protect you or your partner in a scenario like that?

[Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell]

We have in most of our agreements, some level of protection for those types of scenarios.

[Giuliano Thornhill, Analyst at National Bank]

Okay. Thank you. That's all.

[Operator]

We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Vlad Volodarski, CEO, for closing remarks.

[Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell]

Thank you, Kristin, and thank you everybody for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to give us a call. Goodbye.

[Operator]

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Analysts

• Vlad Volodarski, CEO at Chartwell
• Karen Sullivan, President and COO at Chartwell
• Jeffrey Brown, CFO at Chartwell
• Jonathan Boulakia, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Chartwell
• Lorne Kalmar, Analyst at Desjardins
• Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen
• Himanshu Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank
• Pammi Bir, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets
• Giuliano Thornhill, Analyst at National Bank