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Sun Communities Inc
NYSE:SUI

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Sun Communities Inc
NYSE:SUI
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Price: 126.55 USD -1.01% Market Closed
Market Cap: $15.6B

Q1-2025 Earnings Call

AI Summary
Earnings Call on May 6, 2025

Safe Harbor Sale: Sun Communities completed the $5.65 billion sale of Safe Harbor Marinas, a major step in its strategy to focus on manufactured housing (MH) and RV communities.

Debt Reduction: Proceeds from the sale enabled the company to repay about $3.3 billion in debt and set a new long-term net debt-to-EBITDA target of 3.5 to 4.5x.

Dividend Actions: Announced a one-time $4 per share cash distribution, a planned 10.6% increase to the quarterly dividend, and a new $1 billion share repurchase authorization.

Core FFO Growth: Core FFO per share grew 5.8% year-over-year in Q1 to $1.26. 2025 guidance set at $6.43 to $6.63 per share.

NOI Guidance: MH same-property NOI guidance was raised, driven by strong occupancy and rent growth; RV guidance was reduced due to transient weakness and softer Canadian demand.

Portfolio Pruning: Sold six nonstrategic MH and RV communities for $124 million year-to-date, with more selective pruning expected.

Acquisition Pipeline: Roughly $1 billion set aside for tax-efficient MH acquisitions, with a disciplined approach and focus on quality assets.

Strategic Repositioning

The company successfully completed the sale of Safe Harbor Marinas for $5.65 billion, marking a shift to a pure-play focus on manufactured housing and RV communities. This move streamlines operations and supports long-term growth and simplification goals.

Capital Allocation & Financial Flexibility

Sun Communities has used proceeds from the Safe Harbor sale to pay down $3.3 billion in debt, resulting in a pro forma leverage decline and a new net debt-to-EBITDA target of 3.5 to 4.5x. The company also announced a one-time $4 per share cash distribution, a planned quarterly dividend increase, and a $1 billion share repurchase authorization. About $1 billion is held in 1031 exchange accounts for future acquisitions.

Operational Performance & Guidance

First quarter results showed 4.6% North American same-property NOI growth, with particularly strong MH performance (NOI up 8.9%, revenue up 7.3%, occupancy up 150 bps to 97.5%). Expense controls contributed to improved margins. Core FFO per share grew 5.8%. Guidance for MH same-property NOI was raised at the midpoint, while RV same-property NOI guidance was reduced due to transient softness.

RV Segment Trends

The RV business saw ongoing strength on the annual side (revenue up 7.8% YoY), but transient RV revenue declined 20% in Q1, driven by reduced Canadian guests, shorter booking windows, and the conversion of sites to annual. Management expects Q1 to be the trough and is focusing on annual conversions and retention.

Expense Management & Cost Savings

The company realized $15–20 million in cost savings, including $11 million in G&A (mainly from staff reductions), with further savings expected from centralized procurement and property-level efficiencies. These savings are embedded in current guidance.

Acquisition Strategy

Sun is actively pursuing high-quality single asset and small portfolio MH acquisitions, leveraging industry relationships and inbound interest. The focus is on disciplined underwriting, with an expectation to deploy 1031 exchange proceeds primarily into MH (not RV) assets.

Market Conditions & Financing

The financing environment for MH and RV remains strong, with liquidity from Fannie, Freddie, and life companies. Cap rates for quality MH assets are cited in the 4–5% range. No meaningful slowdown in financing was reported post-Liberation Day.

Leadership & Governance

The CEO search process is underway with a target for completion by year-end. Mark Dining, a seasoned real estate executive, has been nominated for the board to support strategic execution.

Core FFO per Share
$1.26
Change: Up 5.8% year-over-year.
Guidance: $6.43 to $6.63 for full year 2025.
Sale Proceeds (Safe Harbor Marinas)
$5.65 billion
No Additional Information
Debt Balance (March 31)
$7.4 billion
No Additional Information
Weighted Average Interest Rate (pre-Safe Harbor)
4.1%
No Additional Information
Net Debt to EBITDA
5.9x (trailing 12-month)
Guidance: Targeting 3.5–4.5x long-term.
Debt Paydown (post-Safe Harbor)
$3.3 billion
No Additional Information
Annualized Interest Expense Savings
$160 million
No Additional Information
Weighted Average Interest Rate (post-Safe Harbor paydown)
3.5%
No Additional Information
Weighted Average Debt Maturity
Nearly 8 years
Change: Increased from 5.9 years.
Same-Property NOI Growth (North America)
4.6%
Guidance: 3.5% to 5.2% for 2025.
Same-Property NOI Growth (MH)
8.9%
Guidance: Midpoint raised by 60 bps.
Manufactured Housing Revenue Growth
7.3%
No Additional Information
MH Occupancy Rate
97.5%
Change: Up 150 bps.
MH Average Resident Tenure
21 years
No Additional Information
MH Expense Growth
2.8%
No Additional Information
Same-Property NOI Growth (RV)
-9.1%
Guidance: Guidance reduced to down 3.5% to up 0.5%.
RV Revenue Growth (Annual)
7.8%
No Additional Information
RV Transient Revenue Decline
-20% in Q1
No Additional Information
Canadian Contribution to RV Annual Revenue
4%
No Additional Information
Canadian Contribution to RV Transient Revenue
5%
No Additional Information
Same-Property NOI Growth (U.K.)
Decrease of $600,000
Guidance: Guidance unchanged: 0.9% to 2.9% growth.
U.K. Revenue Growth
0.2%
No Additional Information
U.K. Average Home Sales Price Increase
8%
Change: Year-over-year.
Gross Proceeds from Sale of Nonstrategic MH/RV Communities (YTD)
$124 million
No Additional Information
One-Time Cash Distribution
$4 per share
Guidance: Payable May 22, 2025 to holders of record May 14, 2025.
Planned Quarterly Distribution
$1.04 per share
Change: Up 10.6%.
Guidance: Expected to begin with Q2 2025 distribution in July.
Authorized Share Repurchase Program
$1 billion
No Additional Information
Annual RV Conversions (2025 Guidance)
1,500
No Additional Information
Recurring CapEx (2025 Guidance)
Just over $70 million
No Additional Information
Core FFO per Share
$1.26
Change: Up 5.8% year-over-year.
Guidance: $6.43 to $6.63 for full year 2025.
Sale Proceeds (Safe Harbor Marinas)
$5.65 billion
No Additional Information
Debt Balance (March 31)
$7.4 billion
No Additional Information
Weighted Average Interest Rate (pre-Safe Harbor)
4.1%
No Additional Information
Net Debt to EBITDA
5.9x (trailing 12-month)
Guidance: Targeting 3.5–4.5x long-term.
Debt Paydown (post-Safe Harbor)
$3.3 billion
No Additional Information
Annualized Interest Expense Savings
$160 million
No Additional Information
Weighted Average Interest Rate (post-Safe Harbor paydown)
3.5%
No Additional Information
Weighted Average Debt Maturity
Nearly 8 years
Change: Increased from 5.9 years.
Same-Property NOI Growth (North America)
4.6%
Guidance: 3.5% to 5.2% for 2025.
Same-Property NOI Growth (MH)
8.9%
Guidance: Midpoint raised by 60 bps.
Manufactured Housing Revenue Growth
7.3%
No Additional Information
MH Occupancy Rate
97.5%
Change: Up 150 bps.
MH Average Resident Tenure
21 years
No Additional Information
MH Expense Growth
2.8%
No Additional Information
Same-Property NOI Growth (RV)
-9.1%
Guidance: Guidance reduced to down 3.5% to up 0.5%.
RV Revenue Growth (Annual)
7.8%
No Additional Information
RV Transient Revenue Decline
-20% in Q1
No Additional Information
Canadian Contribution to RV Annual Revenue
4%
No Additional Information
Canadian Contribution to RV Transient Revenue
5%
No Additional Information
Same-Property NOI Growth (U.K.)
Decrease of $600,000
Guidance: Guidance unchanged: 0.9% to 2.9% growth.
U.K. Revenue Growth
0.2%
No Additional Information
U.K. Average Home Sales Price Increase
8%
Change: Year-over-year.
Gross Proceeds from Sale of Nonstrategic MH/RV Communities (YTD)
$124 million
No Additional Information
One-Time Cash Distribution
$4 per share
Guidance: Payable May 22, 2025 to holders of record May 14, 2025.
Planned Quarterly Distribution
$1.04 per share
Change: Up 10.6%.
Guidance: Expected to begin with Q2 2025 distribution in July.
Authorized Share Repurchase Program
$1 billion
No Additional Information
Annual RV Conversions (2025 Guidance)
1,500
No Additional Information
Recurring CapEx (2025 Guidance)
Just over $70 million
No Additional Information

Earnings Call Transcript

Transcript
from 0
Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Sun Communities First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, management would like me to inform you that certain statements made during this call, which are not historical facts, may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the company believes that expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, the company can provide no assurance that its expectations will be achieved.

Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations are detailed in today's press release and from time to time in the company's periodic filings with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to advise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.

Having said that, I would like to introduce the management with us today, Gary Shiffman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; John McLaren, President; Fernando Castro-Caratini, Chief Financial Officer; and Aaron Weiss, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development. After their remarks, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

I will now turn the call over to Gary Shiffman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Shiffman, you may begin.

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Good morning, and thank you for joining us as we discuss first quarter 2025 results, the closing of the Safe Harbor Marinas transaction and our updated guidance for the year. We are very pleased with our first quarter performance and to have announced the successful closing of the Safe Harbor Marinas transaction last week. The sale of Safe Harbor marks a major milestone in Sun's ongoing strategic repositioning for a pure-play owner and operator of manufactured housing and recreational vehicle communities. .

We're equally encouraged by the continued execution of our broader simplification strategy as we streamline our operations and drive cost savings and revenue growth. These efforts are materializing and position us to deliver strong, resilient and consistent growth going forward. The cash generated from the closing of safe harbor transaction, enhances our financial flexibility and positions us for long-term growth.

As part of our capital allocation plan, we executed on our debt reduction efforts and established a new long-term net debt-to-EBITDA target of 3.5 to 4.5x. In addition to the Safe Harbor transaction, year-to-date, we have sold 6 nonstrategic MH and RV communities, generating total gross proceeds of approximately $124 million.

While John and Fernando will go into more detail, I want to reiterate our confidence in the strength of Sun's platform and the long-term opportunities we see across our MH and RV segments. The fundamentals driving demand remain intact particularly around affordable housing with no changes to the long-term supply constraints, which support our positive outlook.

In conjunction with the sale of Safe Harbor, we have repositioned balance sheet and have allocated approximately $1 billion into 1031 exchange accounts for potential tax-efficient acquisitions. We are underwriting a number of high-quality single assets and small portfolio manufactured housing opportunities that have been identified through a combination of our long-term industry relationships, and inbound activity.

In March, Sun announced that our Board nominated Mark Dining as an independent director candidate for election to our Board of Directors. Mark has over 3 decades of real estate experience and served in multiple executive roles at Duke Realty. We expect his experience and perspective to be a strong addition as we continue to execute on our strategy.

The CEO search committee continues to be engaged and is advancing its work to secure the top candidate as my successor by year-end. And on behalf of the Sun team, I want to thank the entire Safe Harbor and Blackstone teams for a smooth transaction process. We wish them continued success. As always, I also want to thank the Sun team for their continued focus on delivering strong results.

I will now turn the call over to John and Fernando to discuss our results and financial performance in more detail. John?

J
John McLaren
executive

Thank you, Gary. I am very pleased to discuss the results of our first quarter as we focus on delivering strong operational performance from our core MH and RV communities. We've streamlined our portfolio and have significantly enhanced our balance sheet flexibility. In front of us is an exciting chapter for Sun, on ground in operational excellence and the realization of disciplined execution through consistent organic growth and selective expansions.

Our North American same-property portfolio delivered 4.6% NOI growth driven by solid performance in manufactured housing and ongoing progress in expense management. Manufactured housing continues to show resilience with same-property NOI up 8.9% in the first quarter. Revenue grew 7.3%, supported by strong rental rate increases and a 150 basis point occupancy gain.

Expenses were well managed, growing 2.8% with notable savings in payroll, insurance and legal. Occupancy remained strong at 97.5%, with average resident tenure of approximately 21 years demonstrating the value our residents enjoy living in a Sun community.

Within the RV segment, the annual side of the RV business continues to perform well. with revenue increasing 7.8% year-over-year, reflecting the benefits of our strategy to drive more stable recurring income. The decline in RV same-property NOI of 9.1% is attributable to softness in the transient RV business, which remains under pressure from general macroeconomic uncertainty and reduced Canadian guests.

Canadians account for roughly 4% of our annual base and 5% of our transient RV revenue. While transient revenue declined, transient guests play an important role in supporting our annual revenue growth across the broader portfolio. The first quarter represents approximately 16% of total annual RV NOI.

In the U.K., total same-property NOI saw a modest decrease of $600,000 compared to the prior year primarily due to higher payroll as a result of increases in national minimum wage and higher real estate taxes. Revenue grew 0.2%, supported by higher MH income and home sales volumes largely consistent with the prior year with average sales prices of approximately 8% higher year-over-year.

We are pleased with our first quarter results and the notable progress we've made. In particular, we're encouraged by our performance, the enhanced revenue driving strategies we implemented and ongoing activities, we will roll out to deliver resilient earnings growth over time. We are focused on operational excellence, and I'm extremely excited about the opportunities ahead as we build on this momentum and further unlock the potential within our portfolio.

I will now turn the call over to Fernando to discuss our financial results in more detail as well as our updated 2025 guidance. Fernando?

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

Thank you, John. As John and Gary noted, we believe we are at an important inflection point for Sun, not just operationally but financially. We closed on substantially all of the $5.65 billion sale of Safe Harbor Marinas on April 30 and have begun executing on a capital allocation plan that has meaningfully reshaped our balance sheet and financial profile.

Let me start with our first quarter results. We delivered core FFO per share of $1.26, representing a 5.8% increase year-over-year. This performance was driven by a combination of solid operational execution and early benefits from our ongoing cost optimization efforts.

Turning to our balance sheet. As of March 31, Sun that balance stood at $7.4 billion, with a weighted average interest rate of 4.1% and a weighted average maturity of 5.9 years. Our net debt to trailing 12-month recurring EBITDA ratio was 5.9x.

Turning to capital allocation. As outlined in our press release last week, the capital allocation plan following the Safe Harbor transaction reflects a balanced tax efficient approach to optimize shareholder value through lower leverage, greater financial flexibility to drive sustainable cash flow growth and a thoughtful capital return strategy.

From the net proceeds of the initial closing, Sun has paid down or intends to repay approximately $3.3 billion of debt, inclusive of estimated prepayment costs. This includes the full repayment of approximately $1.6 billion under our senior credit facility, leaving us with a 0 balance as of May 1 and no flowing rate debt outstanding. The payoff of approximately $740 million of secured mortgage debt with a weighted average interest rate of 5.3% and the redemption of approximately $950 million of unsecured bonds inclusive of estimated prepayment costs scheduled to close on May 10, carrying a weighted average coupon of 5.6%.

The company intends to manage its balance sheet in a leverage range of approximately 3.5 to 4.5x on a long-term basis. Based on the initial debt pay down, we expect to generate annualized interest expense savings of approximately $160 million and reduced the weighted average interest rate on Sun's outstanding indebtedness to approximately 3.5%. Our weighted average debt maturities have increased to nearly 8 years. Post transaction, the remaining cash on hand, inclusive of amounts held in 1031 accounts is expected to initially earn an annualized interest rate of approximately 3.5% to 4%.

Additional elements of our capital allocation plan includes a onetime cash distribution of $4 per share to holders of record as of May 14, 2025, payable on May 22, a planned increase to our quarterly distribution by approximately 10.6% to $1.04 per common share and unit. This increase is expected to begin with the second quarter distribution that is anticipated to be paid during July 2025. And the adoption of a $1 billion stock repurchase program permitting future repurchases of our common shares.

We continue to evaluate additional proceed maximization strategies, which may evolve as we finalize tax and strategic implications over the remainder of the year. Pro forma for these actions our leverage has declined meaningfully. For full year 2025, we are establishing core FFO per share guidance in the range of $6.43 to $6.63. This reflects the execution and timing of the Safe Harbor Marinas transaction, including the disposition of the delayed consent properties.

Note that our original guidance issued in February was adjusted for full year contribution assumptions relating to Safe Harbor. This updated outlook assumes the full sale of all Marina assets and does not include any potential future acquisitions, proceeds deployed for share repurchases and any other nonordinary course strategic actions or financial transactions.

In terms of operational assumptions embedded in our updated guidance, we raised our manufactured housing same-property NOI guidance by 60 basis points at the midpoint, reflecting strong first quarter results and continued top line strength expectations. RV same-property NOI expectations have been reduced to a range of down 3.5% to up 0.5% driven by observed slower transient reservation pacing, reflecting a shift towards shorter booking windows.

Overall, total North America same property NOI is expected to grow 3.5% to 5.2% with a midpoint of 4.4%. Our U.K. same-property NOI guidance remains unchanged, with a projected growth range of 90 basis points to 2.9% and a midpoint of 1.9% growth. Ancillary NOI has been reduced by approximately $4 million at the midpoint, primarily due to lower-than-expected transient RV activity.

For additional details regarding our full year guidance, please see our supplemental disclosures. As a reminder, our guidance includes acquisitions and dispositions and capital markets activity through May 5, but it does not include the impact of prospective acquisitions, dispositions or capital markets activities, which may be included in research analyst estimates.

I will now turn the call back to Gary for his closing remarks. Gary?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Thank you, John and Fernando. We're extremely pleased with our 4-plus year investment in Safe Harbor that concluded with the successful sale we consummated last week, I want to thank the entire Safe Harbor team once again for their partnership and wish Blackstone and Safe Harbor continued success in the future. As it relates to Sun, this transformative sale aligns with our long-term strategy by substantially reducing our leverage and increasing our strategic and financial flexibility. .

I would like to extend my gratitude to the entire Sun team for their efforts in delivering on this important quarter and to our shareholders for their continued support.

This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, we're now ready to take questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from the line of Michael Goldsmith from UBS.

M
Michael Goldsmith
analyst

Maybe starting with the manufactured housing NOI guidance. It went up 50 basis points from your initial guidance. So can you walk us through -- what are you seeing on the MH side that has you revising guidance up early in the year? And is that on the revenue side? Or is that on the expense side?

J
John McLaren
executive

Mike, it's John. It's a little bit of everything, to be quite honest with it. We're seeing good occupancy gains over the course of the first quarter that we expect to continue. Within the rental home program, we've had really good renewal performance as well as renewal rate performance in the first quarter that we expect to continue on. The team has done a really nice job in terms of rent collections, which is obviously moves its way towards reduced impact from a bad debt perspective. And we've had really good discipline with the expense savings program that we launched towards the end of last year. So it's really -- I mean, it's hitting on all cylinders on the MH side, which is why we are excited to improve our guidance in 2025.

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Michael, it's Gary. I would just add the fact that we have the long tenure of 20-plus years in the manufactured housing side we always point to the expenses related to turnover and things like that. And so I think that as we continue to see the strong, strong demand to be in the communities, it also has a benefit with regard to much extended tenures that we're seeing.

M
Michael Goldsmith
analyst

Got it. And as a follow-up, as you think about the repurchase authorization, are you thinking of that as an opportunity to opportunistically purchase shares at what you see as a discounted valuation? Or is this kind of a indication that Sun is out will be out in the market and kind of consistently be acquiring. I'm just trying to understand, is this a -- is this an opportunistic vehicle? Or is this something that you plan on using to its fullest?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Good question. I think the way I'd respond to it, I think that it's just part of the much larger thoughtful program related to the positioning of the company today. It gives us continued flexibility. And we're just very, very pleased with the fact that we were able to close the Safe Harbor Marinas transaction and what is a very volatile marketplace out there right now.

We closed it actually more rapidly than even we anticipated. So with the ability to strengthen the balance sheet to have the capital on the 1031 exchange to continue to focus on our overall strategies in the MH, RV portfolio to be able to put out the special onetime distribution and really look out and look forward to being able to share with the market as things progress in the future during the year. So it's 1 piece of the overall plan.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Jana Galan from Bank of America.

J
Jana Galan
analyst

I just wanted to follow up on the revision in the RV guidance and whether you're kind of attributing that to potentially just the continued return to office or lower Canadian travel? And if you have any visibility into Memorial Day weekend that you can comment on?

J
John McLaren
executive

It's John. Thanks for the question. I think -- so here's the broader color I want to give on transient RV, which -- large component of our transient revenue headwinds actually is created by our success in converting transient sites to annual sites, which I think everybody knows, has been a big success over a number of years. I think despite the near-term volatility, our transient RV business generated solid revenue and margins and continues to play an important role in creating the pipeline for annual conversions.

Regarding recent trends, I will share at the end of March, we were actually outpacing 2024 bookings. And then beginning in early April, we began to see a shift towards a much shorter booking windows and trends related to our Canadian guests became a bit more challenging. The bottom line is people are booking closer to their stays, okay, than they were last year.

As we share frequently, I think RV represents affordable vacationing. and especially in tougher economic times, the funnel towards annual RV revenue growth. And while we may, in fact, see improvement in guidance we've shared today related to transient as people potentially shift vacation plans to something closer to home or more affordable, making their plans closer into when they want to stay. Right now, we're following the data and the pacing that we have and felt it was appropriate to make an adjustment to our transient revenue forecast for 2025.

And that said, our RV strategy remains focused on as you know, continue to reflect operating expenses within RV and building upon the demonstrated annual conversion success with particular emphasis on retention of existing annual guests. I think many on the call have probably heard me say before that the best revenue-producing site we can gain is the one we never lose. And so that's where our focus is plays. So it's really -- it's a combination of what we're seeing in terms of our Canadian guests and things I talked about just a second ago. So we're after bottom line.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Eric Wolfe from Citigroup.

E
Eric Wolfe
analyst

I think you said that you're assuming 3.5% to 4% rate on the cash that you're holding on your balance sheet. Can you just talk about what the average cash balances you're assuming for the rest of the year? I would assume it's like $1.7 billion, but I just want to confirm.

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

So Eric, we -- as stated in the prepared remarks, we are not assuming any prospective acquisitions or capital markets activity. So we are carrying a higher cash balance than what we expect to by year-end as it relates to that interest income and that carrying an interest rate between that 3.5% to 4%. But on a net basis, it's -- it will be around $1.7 billion. That's embedded in guidance.

E
Eric Wolfe
analyst

All right. Makes sense. And then in terms of potential acquisitions, can you just discuss how much is under contract right now? Just given the size, I assume that you have some visibility towards losing something in the near term and maybe I'm wrong on that, but talk about that. And then just the types of properties that you're targeting in the general valuations level?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Sure. So -- good question and something we're obviously very focused on with the opportunity that we have. Eric, basically, we built a strong long-term relationship with owners over the last 30-plus years. So we have been actively engaged on a number of acquisition opportunities, as I said in my earlier remarks, and we will be looking forward to sharing more when we're able to do so. But what I can share is they are high-quality single manufactured housing assets and small portfolio manufactured housing opportunities that we've reached out on from those relationships. And additionally, we've had some inbound interest come into us.

But what I would really want to underscore is that this is a great opportunity for Sun to deploy capital and the 1031 exchanges and reaccelerate growth in our core business, but we will do it in a very disciplined way. So we won't be looking to just put capital out for the sake of putting capital out. We'll be underwriting and doing our diligence to create the best circumstances for growth going forward.

So very anxious to be able to share specifics, but we're very excited about the opportunity that we have in front of us. And then I would just share that as most of you may be aware the identification window under a 1031 exchange is 45 days or so. So we're working diligently with that time frame. But as I said, we won't comment prematurely just given our active engagement that's taking place right now.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Brad Heffern from RBC Capital Markets.

B
Brad Heffern
analyst

Gary, you gave a very brief update on the search for your successor. Can you give any additional details there on what the process has been so far and what remains. And then I think you also said by year-end. So should we not expect an announcement until late in the year? Or is there a possibility that it comes before then?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Answering it backwards. The possibility between now and year-end, certainly is more representative of the process. As I indicated, we have a search committee in place at the Board of Directors. They've hired an outside third-party firm that's been helping them through the process, and they've been moving very thoughtfully through the process. I'd suggest that we've been very, very focused on the Safe Harbor Marinas closing in the transaction. as a top priority, but equally, the decision about long-term leadership planning and the search committee's work for a new CEO has also been a top priority. So it is moving along and glad to be able to advise you as decisions are made, and I look forward to doing so as time progresses here.

B
Brad Heffern
analyst

Okay. Got it. And then, Fernando, on the tax leakage from the sale, is there any update you can give there? I know it obviously depends on how much you're able to reinvest through the 1031s, but can you give a range like if you didn't reinvest anything to if you've reinvested $1 billion or anything like that?

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

At this time, I'm not able to provide a range, but we are employing tax minimization strategies, and we'll continue to update the market over time as those are finalized over the course of the year. .

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Wes Golladay from Baird.

W
Wesley Golladay
analyst

A question for you on the annual RV. Typically, you have -- it's a big source of gains -- revenue-producing site gains this year. It was down year-over-year. Can you remind us what's in guidance and what is going on there?

J
John McLaren
executive

Yes. What's in guidance for the year, Wes, it's John. Thanks for the question. is approximately 1,500 conversions to take place over the course of the year. What I would tell you is that we are, in fact, on track with our annual RV conversion contracts, 2025, with the exception of some of the impact that we experienced in Q1, specifically related to renewals and new conversions of Canadian guests. I think it's important to point out what we saying that, though, that Canada only represents about 4% of our RV annual business. and we'll continue to focus on our proven performance and RV annual conversion and retention across the board and filling more sites domestically over the course of the year.

W
Wesley Golladay
analyst

Okay. And then the rental program is showing really strong gains, almost -- it's up double digits year-over-year. Is this from lease-up of your developments?

J
John McLaren
executive

Some of it is that, yes, but some of it's interspersed throughout the portfolio as well.

W
Wesley Golladay
analyst

Okay. And then can I get a quick update on your hedging policy for the U.K.?

J
John McLaren
executive

So as a strategy, we have paid down all of our GBP debt. We are looking at putting on synthetic hedges with some of our existing debt.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Steve Sakwa from Evercore ISI.

S
Steve Sakwa
analyst

I just wanted to touch on G&A. I know when you guys announced safe harbor, that was a large decline in G&A, given that business. And then when John came back, you guys talked about, I think, at least $15 million to $20 million in cost savings. So I'm just curious where that cost savings plan stands and I guess, how much further or how much more benefit do you think you can kind of wring out of the system here?

J
John McLaren
executive

Thanks, Steve. It's John. I'll start. Overall, I'm really pleased with the progress we've made with the $15 million to $20 million expense savings plan. I think we shared before that within G&A, close to $11 million savings over 2024, primarily a result from staff reductions and associated costs, which is already embedded in our guidance for 2025 and we picked up additional savings related to things like advertising, technology licensing costs as well.

As part of that plan, though, within property operating expenses, initiatives were taken across all of our MH and RV assets to manage expenses in the controllable areas. We realized, as you know, approximately $4 million savings in Q4, which is embedded in our 2025 expectations, along with the expectation to expand that another $3 million to $5 million of additional savings in things like payroll, I think I've shared earlier on the call, like bad debt reductions and other items,

We'll continue to seek additional expense savings over the course of this year, and we're obviously equally focused on additional revenue growth opportunities, I think the result of which is reflected in the solid Q1 MH performance through both occupancy gains and rate gains.

Last thing I'll say is the fundamentals are our focus. For example, performance within our sales and leasing funnel, which measures leads to applications to approvals to closings continues to set new milestones. So that's helping to grow on the top line as well.

And finally, we have expanded our centralized procurement platform, which is generating savings through more standardization, discipline and economies of scale in all the areas served by this important platform. So we're pretty happy with where things are going and look to further expansion as the year goes on.

S
Steve Sakwa
analyst

Just 1 quick one for Fernando. I don't think in the guidance you provided real property NOI this time versus last quarter. Do you have that number handy?

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

Steve, the same property portfolio between North America and U.K. is 99-plus percent of total real property for us for the year. That's why the total real property guidance was not provided. .

Operator

The next question comes from the line of John Kim from BMO Capital Markets.

J
John Kim
analyst

Gary, on past calls and meetings when you talked about manufactured housing cap rates, there were oftentimes surprisingly low, sometimes as low as 3%. and you largely attributed that to 1031 buyers in the market. So I'm wondering how much lower the hurdle rate is for you on MH acquisitions, just given your circumstance today?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Certainly, a great question, John. As I indicated before, we have a great opportunity in front of us to look at MH acquisitions, but we will be very, very disciplined in how we think about it so that we can generate the type of solid growth as we think about the long-term underwriting of these assets.

I'd suggest that cap rates for high-quality manufactured assets are generally consistent with historical levels, I'm going to suggest in that 4% to 5% range. But we're going to be very cautious in sharing cap rates at a time when we're in the market, so to speak, and having those discussions. but we will certainly share those cap rates with you at a future date as we begin to close on potential transactions.

J
John Kim
analyst

Okay. And then on RVs, I just wanted to make sure that you're not planning to use the $1 billion of proceeds for 1031 on any RV acquisitions. And then as far as the discussion on transient RV, it still was a little bit surprising, it was down so much given transient sites were down about 7% year-over-year. So I'm wondering what else do you think was causing demand to come down so much in the segment?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

I'll take the first part of the question is that while we like the RV business, we are primarily focused on acquisitions of manufactured housing communities. So that's the expectation that will be our primary focus.

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

And then, John, as it relates to transient RV revenue and the performance in the first quarter, the decline of 20% in revenue is due primarily to seasonality of the portfolio and the high number of conversions over the last 12 months, especially in Florida, impacting available transient sites during this period. The first quarter represents about 16% of NOI for our RV portfolio. and revenue per available site did decline. But again, primarily because of that availability of sites in the portfolio for the first quarter.

J
John Kim
analyst

So do you expect the first quarter was the trough as far as the year-over-year decline? It improves...

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

That's correct.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Anthony Hau from Truist Securities.

A
Anthony Hau
analyst

Gary and John, in terms of MH acquisition, is there a preference between all age and age-restricted communities? And what's the cap rate spread and rent growth difference between the two?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

A great question, Anthony, sort of an age-old discussion that we share with the marketplace. We believe in a very balanced portfolio. The importance that we've always kind of shared with the market is that in the all-age communities, we generally have more strength and ability to raise rental income, less restricted by covenants that might control how you increase rents, and we experienced higher rental increases in more challenging inflationary periods.

At the same time, we experienced a 21-plus year tenure in our balanced portfolio, and it is weighted towards longer stays in the all-age versus age restricted, but at the same time, high, high demand in our age restricted balances out how we think about that balanced portfolio. So generally, I would expect to continue to look for that balanced portfolio and our acquisitions, and we are looking at both age restricted and age at this current time.

J
John McLaren
executive

Anthony, it's John add to that. I mean one of the things that we've shared before is that 25% to 30% of the residents that live in our all-age communities are, in fact, would qualify for age-restricted communities as well. So it's a nice balance. And from the operating perspective, we like the fact that we can cast a wider net of prospects that can move into our communities, okay, through the all age as well. So like Gary said, it's a nice balance that we seek to maintain.

A
Anthony Hau
analyst

And then like the resident move-out rate was 4.6% year-to-date, 4.3% in 2024, but I think it was roughly 3% in 2022 and 2023. What's driving the higher churn? And what's embedded in the guidance?

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

We're 'referencing. Overall, for the total portfolio. Yes. I think we're referencing actual resident turnover, but homes remain in the communities. And so this is part of the product why we've seen an increase on our brokered home sales that have taken place over the first quarter. So we actually benefit from some of that turn. But the fact is that the homes like Gary mentioned earlier, I think I said in my remarks that average resident stays in our community for 21 years. The homes themselves, I think it's, what, about 0.5% manufactured housing side. our turnover on the home, specifically are under 50 basis points per year. So this just creates more opportunities for us to transact, Anthony.

A
Anthony Hau
analyst

Got you. And just one last question for me. Just for Fernando. What's 2025 core FFO run rate should we use excluding the Marinas contribution?

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

I think, Anthony, the best way would be to go from a same-property NOI build for our MH, RV and U.K. portfolio. We've also provided guidance for all other line items, ex Marina, be that ancillary G&A, et cetera, et cetera. So that will be your build.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Peter Abramowitz from Jefferies.

P
Peter Abramowitz
analyst

I think most of my questions have been answered, but just wanted to ask one. Could you just talk about what you're seeing in the financing market for MH and RV assets? I guess, particularly kind of post Liberation Day announcement. Maybe just comment on spreads in that market and what you're seeing there?

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

It's a very strong market. The Fannie and Freddie continue to finance residential, be that manufactured housing annual RV and multifamily. We haven't gotten any color from our partners as far as any slowdown, any slowdown there?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

I'd add life companies as well. So the typical sources recognize the fundamentals inherent in the business, the stability of cash flow and resilience to tough economic times, demand for affordable housing. So I haven't experienced or heard anything different as well.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of David Segall from Green Street.

D
David Segall
analyst

Is it possible to quantify the RV booking pace for a Canadian customer specifically?

J
John McLaren
executive

Thanks, David. This is John. I mean generally speaking, like I said, it's booking pace has been down, okay? But the bigger impact to Canadian have been attributed to the first quarter. As I shared in my remarks as well as some of the earlier questions. But it's a little bit of uncertainty, okay, that's out there right now that we're dealing with as we talked about the near-term challenges. But once again, I will say that, it is limited in terms of the fact that Canada only represents 4% of our annual business as well as 5% of our transient business. So even a reduction in bookings or an increase in cancellations has more of a marginal impact on us overall. So we are focused on, like I said before, just recouping that through domestic travel.

And as we've seen in other times of tougher economic conditions, we see more people flow through to us. But I think with the pacing that we're seeing now with the booking window that we're seeing now, is the reason why we made the adjustments to guidance just to -- because it makes sense okay? Our hope, of course, is that this will continue to improve over the course of 2025.

D
David Segall
analyst

And -- maybe just shifting to additional asset sales. You've been streamlining the portfolio. I'm just curious what -- how much additional for pruning your looking at for the rest of the year?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Good question, David. Thank you. We are very, very pleased at what we've been able to accomplish our '24 program of dispositions, along with what we've accomplished that we announced in the 6 communities to date. I think these are noncore strategic assets and they're just improving the outlook on the rest of the portfolio. So there -- we'll just continue good asset management and they'll probably look like onesies and twosies when we determine something doesn't fit our long-term core strategy. .

Operator

We take the next question from the line of Eric Wolfe from Citigroup.

E
Eric Wolfe
analyst

You mentioned there was a 45-day window under 1031 exchange law. I guess, is there any way to extend that? And I guess is the rule simply that you have to move under contract in 45 days? Like what happens needs to happen within 45 days to avoid a taxable event?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Good question, Eric. There is no way that I'm aware to extend that, but that 45-day period of time is just to identify the properties. So that's the 45-day period of time. And then you have a total of 180 days, I believe, to actually execute on a closing. So that first 45 is just a period of time within which you have to identify them. We also will benefit from the handful of deferred properties in our subject to close in the future related to final approvals from Core of Engineers and municipalities. So those 1031 exchange opportunity periods will be from the date of closing. So same math would work there, too.

E
Eric Wolfe
analyst

Great. And then, I guess, now that you've completed the sale of Safe Harbor, can you just give us a sense for the amount of recurring CapEx that you expect on an annual basis sort of dollars, if you could? .

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

Sure. This is Fernando. Overcover the course of 2025, the recurring CapEx we expect for our MH, RV and U.K. portfolio is just over $70 million for the year.

E
Eric Wolfe
analyst

All right. And then last question I have, it's a little bit old news, but I think last quarter, you took a write-down in the U.K. business. Can you just remind us what value you took that business down to and whether it includes all of our U.K. assets or excludes, for instance, some of the land parcels or other assets within the U.K.? Just trying to understand what the valuation was there and what it includes? .

F
Fernando Castro-Caratini
executive

That's a great follow-up but let's pick that up off-line. But the write-down in the fourth quarter related to writing down the remaining goodwill within the U.K. portfolio.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, I would now hand the conference over to Gary Shiffman for his closing comments. Gary?

G
Gary Shiffman
executive

Thank you, everybody. Obviously, we shared with you that we're very, very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish this last quarter. and look forward to sharing information with you on second quarter's performance. Thank you, operator. .

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the company's remarks. You may now disconnect your lines.

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