American Campus Communities Provides Interim Leasing Update

American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE: ACC), the nation’s largest owner and manager of high-quality student housing properties, today provided an interim leasing update for the 2020-2021 academic year.

As of September 11, 2020, the company’s same store owned portfolio was 90.3 percent leased for the 2020-2021 academic year with a 1.0 percent current rental rate increase over prior year, after removing approximately 1,300 "no-shows” at open market leasing properties and reflecting current assigned occupancy levels at on-campus properties administered by the company’s university partners. This compares to 97.4 percent same store occupancy as of September 30, 2019.

The table below provides the company’s current leasing status as compared to the company’s previous leasing update as of July 17, 2020 and as compared to the prior year’s final leasing results as of September 30, 2019. The update is broken down by properties with leases commencing in August that have completed the initial move-in process, which represent 92.6 percent of the company’s same store design beds, and by properties with leases commencing in September where the initial move-in process will be completed in the coming weeks, which represent the remaining 7.4 percent of same store design beds. The data is further broken down by properties that primarily house second-year and above students, consisting almost entirely of apartment style products largely located off campus, which represent approximately 90 percent of total same store beds; and properties that primarily house first-year students, consisting entirely of residence hall products largely located on-campus, which represent approximately 10 percent of same store beds.

"As discussed on our July 21^st earnings call, throughout June and July we were encouraged by leasing trends and consumer sentiment reflecting students’ desire to be in the college environment with their peers, regardless of universities’ ultimate plans for curriculum delivery being online or in-person,” said Bill Bayless, American Campus Communities CEO. "Since that time, as universities have toggled between methods of curriculum delivery in response to COVID-19, we are pleased to have seen that sentiment continue among sophomore and upper-division students and have continued to make leasing progress at our properties which primarily serve these experienced college students, as they are currently 92 percent occupied. However, as the commencement of fall classes drew near, we, our university partners and other universities noted slightly more apprehension among incoming first-year students. This group of students, who are leaving home for the first time to begin their college careers, have exhibited a higher degree of reluctance to relocate to campus while online instruction is prevalent. In response, many universities temporarily relaxed housing requirements and expectations for first-year students, resulting in a fall term occupancy decline over the prior year of approximately 16 percent at our on-campus residence hall properties that primarily serve first-year students. These properties represent only approximately 10 percent of our total same store beds. We applaud and concur with universities taking this action, as the relaxation of these housing policies has resulted in most of these first-year students still enrolling at their universities, which should mitigate material longer-term enrollment impacts beyond the current COVID-19 crisis.”

"Moving forward, we are focused on continued execution of our COVID-19 operational plan that has already allowed us to welcome back over 80,000 student residents at ACC owned communities and on completing the lease-up of our communities with leases commencing in September,” said Jennifer Beese, American Campus Communities COO. "We also believe the start of this academic year represents a less final completion of the annual lease-up, as some students may continue to make the decision to return to campus and rejoin their peers regardless of university curriculum delivery methodology. This could provide the opportunity to execute additional leases and improve occupancy during the fall term as we hope to progress toward a return to normalcy throughout the 2020-2021 academic year. We will also continue to ‘Do the right thing’ by our stakeholders and are committed to work with students who may need some assistance under our Resident Hardship Program due to financial difficulties caused by the ongoing pandemic, although we expect less need than we experienced throughout the spring and summer of the prior academic year. We also expect to see an improvement in delinquency levels relative to the spring and summer terms, but perhaps remaining above fully normalized levels, as we are currently monitoring approximately 1,000 leases or 1.0 percent of beds where students have made their August rent payment but requested that we relet their accommodation. Typically, at this time of year, we have about half of this amount of relet requests remaining. We are also monitoring approximately 1,100 active leases or 1.2 percent of beds where students have made their August rent payment but have delayed their arrival beyond the initial move-in date given the less rigid requirement to physically be on campus when classes commence. Also, with regard to any additional refunds at our on-campus ACE properties, at this time we have only agreed to approximately $1.5 million in refunds for the Fall semester as compared to approximately $17 million we reported for the spring and summer terms in total.”

About American Campus Communities

American Campus Communities, Inc. is the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the United States. The company is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered equity real estate investment trust (REIT) with expertise in the design, finance, development, construction management and operational management of student housing properties. As of June 30, 2020, American Campus Communities owned 166 student housing properties containing approximately 111,900 beds. Including its owned and third-party managed properties, ACC's total managed portfolio consisted of 201 properties with approximately 138,000 beds. Visit www.americancampus.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements under the applicable federal securities law. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions regarding markets in which American Campus Communities, Inc. (the "Company”) operates, operational strategies, anticipated events and trends, the economy, and other future conditions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. These risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking-statements include those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, about which there are still many unknowns, including the duration of the pandemic and the extent of its impact, and those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 under the heading "Risk Factors” and under the heading "Business - Forward-looking Statements” and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, including our preleasing activity or expected full year 2020 operating results, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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