Clipper Realty Q2 2026 Earnings Call - Record Residential Rents Offset by Non-Cash Office Lease Termination
Summary
Clipper Realty’s second quarter underscores a classic real estate bifurcation. The residential book is performing near peak efficiency, with occupancy holding at 99 percent and new free-market leases commanding rents 13 percent above prior levels. The newly stabilized Prospect House in Brooklyn fully leased its 240 units at $78 per square foot, validating the ground-up strategy amid a structurally constrained New York rental market. Cash generation remains resilient, supported by strong collection rates and a conservative, non-recourse debt profile that keeps financing costs predictable. The headline losses tell a different story, driven entirely by the $5.7 million non-cash charge from the City of New York’s departure at 250 Livingston Street. The lender has assumed operational funding, and a loan sale process is underway, but the accounting hit temporarily compressed AFFO and widened the net loss. Management is keeping the dividend steady at $0.095 per share, betting that core residential momentum will absorb the one-time office property noise. The market gets a clear signal: rent growth is real, but legacy commercial exposure still demands careful navigation.
Key Takeaways
- Overall residential occupancy holds at 99 percent across stabilized assets, reflecting persistent demand in a supply-constrained New York market.
- New free-market residential leases in Q2 2026 commanded rents over 13 percent higher than prior leases, with renewals climbing 6 percent.
- The Prospect House development at 953 Dean Street fully leased its 240-unit portfolio, achieving $78 per square foot in free-market rents across a mixed-income structure.
- Quarterly revenue dipped slightly to $38.6 million from $39.0 million, primarily due to the $4.1 million impact from the August 2025 termination of the City of New York lease at 250 Livingston Street.
- Net loss widened to $6.3 million from $1.4 million, driven by a $5.7 million non-cash charge related to the 250 Livingston lease termination.
- Adjusted Funds From Operations fell to $3.8 million from $8.3 million, heavily compressed by the same non-cash accounting hit at the Livingston office property.
- The company signed a consent and cooperation agreement to sell the loan on 250 Livingston, placing the asset in receivership while the lender funds all ongoing expenses.
- Operating liquidity remains strong with $37.7 million in unrestricted cash and a 96 percent residential rent collection rate, insulating core operations from the office property disruption.
- The debt portfolio maintains a defensive posture, with 88 percent fixed-rate borrowing at a 3.87 percent average rate and a 3.2-year duration, all structured on a non-recourse basis.
- Management maintained the quarterly dividend at $0.095 per share, signaling confidence that resilient residential cash flow will absorb the one-time commercial headwinds.
Full Transcript
Operator: Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Clipper Realty Q2 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Lawrence Sava, Corporate Controller. Lawrence, the floor is yours.
Lawrence Sava, Corporate Controller, Clipper Realty Inc.: Good afternoon, thank you for joining us for the second quarter 2026 Clipper Realty Inc. earnings conference call. Participating with me on today’s call are David Bistricer, Co-Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, and Larry Kreider, Chief Financial Officer. Please be aware that statements made during the call that are not historical may be deemed forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those disclosed in the company’s 2025 annual report on Form 10-K and 2026 second quarterly report on Form 10-Q, just filed today, which are accessible at www.sec.gov and on our website. As a reminder, the forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, August 6, 2026, and the company undertakes no duty to update them.
During this call, management may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted funds from operations or AFFO, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization or adjusted EBITDA, and net operating income or NOI. Please see our press release, supplemental financial information, and Form 10-Q posted today for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. With that, I will now turn the call over to our Co-Chairman and CEO, David Bistricer.
David Bistricer, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Clipper Realty Inc.: Thank you, Lawrence. Good afternoon, welcome to the second quarter 2026 earnings call for Clipper Realty. I will provide an update on our business performance, some new developments. Afterward, JJ will discuss property level activity, including leasing performance, and Larry will speak to our quarterly financial performance. We will then take your questions. I am pleased to report that our residential properties continue to perform very well due to continued high residential rental demand, generating excellent cash flow, demonstrating the professionalism of our leasing and management teams. Overall rents are generally at all-time highs and continue to increase, and we are nearly fully leased. In the second quarter, new free market leases exceeded prior rents by over 13% across the entire portfolio. We’re in the final quarter of initial lease up at Prospect House development of 953 Dean Street.
We put the property online in August, on time and on budget, and placed a bridge loan last year and provided funds new stabilization. We are presently fully leased with free market rents of $78 a foot. This project was a ground-up development in Brooklyn, where we bought the land in 2021 and 2022. It builds a nine-story amenitized residential building with 162,000 residential sq ft, 240 units, 70% free market, 30% affordable, 31 parking spaces, and 19,000 commercial sq ft. At 250 Livingston Street, City of New York vacated mid-August 2025, as more fully described in the 10-Q and press release. We have entered into a consent and cooperation agreement with the lender to sell the property with loan. They are actively marketing the loan. The lender is currently funding all expenses. We await the results of the lender’s auction.
I will now turn the call over to Larry.
Larry Kreider, Chief Financial Officer, Clipper Realty Inc.: Thank you. I am pleased to report that residential leasing at all our stabilized properties is very strong, and they are 99% leased overall. Rents are at record levels and continuing to increase. Overall new rental rates in residential free market properties in the second quarter exceeded previous rents by 13% and renewals by 6%. We expect demand for our residential leasing product to remain strong in the foreseeable future as the overall rental housing supply in New York City remains constrained and new development discouraged. Our residential free market rents are now at record highs. In the second quarter, Tribeca House had lease occupancy of 99%, overall rent per sq ft of $92 per sq ft, and new rents at $97 per foot. The Clover House property had occupancy of 98%, average overall rents of $92 per foot, and new leases of $95 per foot.
The Pacific House property, consisting of a blend of free market and rent stabilized tenants, had lease occupancy of 99% and free market rents of $78 per foot on new leases. Our Aspen property continues to perform at record levels with average occupancy above 98% and new rents 11% higher than compared to previous leases. We have completed leasing at the newly completed Prospect House ground-up development that David just described at 953 Dean Street, with free market units at $78 per sq ft. As to our commercial leases at the Tribeca House property, we entered to one new lease in the second quarter for 2,063 sq ft, in addition to a long-term renewal in the fourth quarter for 33,000 sq ft last year for the fitness facility at the building.
At Flatbush Gardens property, we substantially completed the three-year capital spending requirements required by the Article XI agreement with New York City and look forward to continuing managing the property in a responsible manner. At the 141 Livingston Street property, we continue to operate the property fully occupied by New York City Brooklyn Courthouse, which is leasing from us pending finalization of a five-year lease as previously agreed. We expect this to be completed effective 2027, although there can be no assurance. Rent collections versus billings across our portfolio remain strong. The overall collection rate in the second quarter for all residential properties was approximately 96%. Looking forward, we remain focused on optimizing occupancy, pricing, and expenses across the business to best position ourselves for growth. I will now turn the call over to Lawrence, who will discuss our financial results.
Lawrence Sava, Corporate Controller, Clipper Realty Inc.: Thank you, Larry. For our ongoing properties, our results for the current quarter versus last year reflect the continuation of very strong residential leasing at all residential properties. The progression to full occupancy at the new Prospect House property, put in service in Q3 last year, some new commercial leases at Tribeca House, and the continuation of operations at the 141 Livingston property. At the 250 Livingston property, the principal tenant, New York City, vacated in August 2025, whereupon the company notified the lender that it would no longer support the property’s operations. The lender has funded all expenses and placed all rents in escrow subsequent to the lease termination. On June 4th, 2026, we entered into a consent and cooperation agreement to market and sell the loan on the property that allows us to bid, but which puts us in receivership.
We continue to accrue all expenses and record the relatively small residential revenue. However, despite the likelihood, we will not fund the recorded expenses at the completion of the loan sale process. The following details our results. Revenues. For the second quarter of 2026, revenues were $38.6 million, as compared to revenues of $39 million during the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of $0.4 million. The decrease was primarily due to the termination of the New York City lease in August 2025 of $4.1 million.
The sale of the 10 West 65th Street property, which had revenues in the second quarter of 2025 of $0.7 million, revenues of $2.3 million in this quarter for the Prospect House property placed in service in August of 2025 and still in its lease-up period, and increases of $2.1 million on all other properties. The increase at all other properties was due to record residential rental rates and occupancy and some new commercial leases at Tribeca House. For the second quarter of 2026, net loss was $6.3 million, $0.19 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.4 million, $0.07 per share for the second quarter of 2025, an increase of $4.9 million.
The increase in net loss was primarily due to the termination of the City of New York lease at 250 Livingston office property of $5.7 million, substantially all of which is non-cash. Whereby the lender has funded all expenses and collected all the residential rents since termination of the City of New York lease. The net loss on the second quarter of 2025 for the 10 West 65th Street property was $27 million. The new Prospect House property placed into service in August 2025 and still in its final lease-up period, had a net loss of $1.4 million in the second quarter of 2026.
All other residential properties and the 141 Livingston property had increased net income of $1.5 million, resulting from strong residential leasing and some new commercial leases at Tribeca House, somewhat offset by annual increases in real estate taxes and insurance at all of our properties and some increased legal expenses and settlement costs. For the second quarter of 2026, AFFO was $3.8 million or $0.09 per share, compared to $8.3 million, $0.20 per share for the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of $4.6 million. The decrease was primarily due to the termination of the City of New York lease at 250 Livingston office property, $5.8 million, substantially all of which is non-cash in 2026 as described above. AFFO in the second quarter of 2025 for the 10 West 65th Street property was negligible.
AFFO at the new Prospect House property, still in its final lease-up period, was $0.2 million negative. AFFO at the remaining residential properties at 141 Livingston Street office property improved by $1.4 million due to strong residential leasing and some new leases at Tribeca House, somewhat offset by annual increases in real estate taxes and insurance at all properties and some legal expenses. With regard to our balance sheet, we have $37.7 million of unrestricted cash and $24.9 million restricted cash at the end of the quarter, benefiting from strong cash flow from residential properties and 141 Livingston office property. As of the end of the quarter, our operating debt is 88% fixed at an average rate of 3.87%, average duration of 3.2 years. Our debt instruments are non-recourse, subject to limited standard carve-outs and non-cross collateralized.
We finance our portfolio on an asset-by-asset basis. Today, we are announcing a dividend of $0.095 per share for the second quarter, the same as last quarter. The dividend will be paid on August 26th, 2026, to shareholders of record of August 18th, 2026. Let me now turn the call back to David for some concluding remarks.
David Bistricer, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Clipper Realty Inc.: Thank you, Lawrence. We remain focused on efficiently operating our portfolio. We look forward to the full stabilization of the Prospect House property and capitalizing on other possibilities that may present themselves. I would now like to open the line for questions.
Operator: Thank you.
David Bistricer, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Clipper Realty Inc.: Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again soon. Tyler, are you there?
Operator: Yes, sir. I am here, sir. I can give instructions for Q&A if you prefer.
David Bistricer, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Clipper Realty Inc.: Okay. Yes, please.
Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will be conducting our question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For those people listening on speakerphone, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for questions. Okay, gentlemen, we don’t appear to have any questions on the lines at this time.
David Bistricer, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Clipper Realty Inc.: Thank you very much. Have a pleasant evening, and we’ll talk to you next quarter.
Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude today’s call, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation.