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Whitestone's third quarter earnings news release and supplemental operating and financial data package have been filed with the SEC and are available on our website www.
whitestonereit.com in the Investor Relations section.
Now over to Jim Mastandrea, our Chairman and CEO, to update you on our third quarter results.
Operating portfolio occupancy increased to 90.2% from 89.9% last quarter and annualized base rent increased to $20.41 from $19.95 last quarter.
Our overall foot traffic at our centers in 3Q '21 was 35% higher than the same quarter in 2020.
With the resurgence of the COVID through its delta variant, we maintained a steady, but slightly lighter pattern versus 2Q '21.
We continue to experience active recurring traffic from existing and new community members visiting our centers as population shifts continue with the ongoing migration from corporations and individuals to Arizona and Texas.
Regarding our financial performance for the quarter, revenue grew by 9% to $32.4 million this quarter compared to $29.9 million in 3Q '20.
Same-store net operating income growth of 7% in this quarter and 8% in Q2 was driven by increases in occupancy and annual base rent per square foot as previously noted, as well as positive leasing spreads.
A key financial indicator for REIT is FFO.
Funds from operations core was $0.25 per share and $0.75 per share in the quarter and the nine months ended September 30, 2021 respectively.
Along with this noted growth, we continue to make progress toward one of our long-term goals of deleveraging the trust.
We reduced our debt to EBITDA, which is now 8.1 times down from 9.4 times a year ago.
Equally important to the trust is our dividend, which we consider sacred.
Regarding our quarterly dividend, we now have paid dividends to our shareholders for the 134th consecutive months since our IPO.
Our dividend yield of 4.3% remains at a premium and our payout ratio to FFO core is exceptionally strong at 42%.
This quarter we reactivated our external growth plan with the acquisition of Lakeside Market in Plano, Texas at a purchase price of $53.25 million.
Importantly, this acquisition did not require any additional corporate overhead, which is a key component toward our attaining economies of scale.
Along with this acquisition, we're actively pursuing additional properties in our strong pipeline of assets in Austin, Dallas and Phoenix.
Looking at our current portfolio, we now have 4.6 million of our 5.1 million square feet of space leased.
Our approximately 1,500 tenants' average lease space is 3000 square feet per tenant, complemented by a mix of larger square footage leases by our grocery anchors.
Our strong tenant relationships and rigorous vetting process ensures the quality of our revenue for our portfolio and stability of our cash flow.
I would like to point out that our tenant improvement costs to bring a new smaller tenant into one of our centers is much lower per square foot than the cost of a big box tenant.
By doing so, we spread our risk among a group of tenants in a relatively the same space as a larger tenant, achieve higher rent per square foot, annual escalators of 2% or 3% and some of our tenants pay percentage lease of revenues.
In addition, typically our tenants pay taxes, insurance and common area maintenance.
Our strong leasing activity is one of the key drivers and performance this quarter.
Some important metrics to highlight that our new lease count for 3Q '21 is 38 versus 35 in the prior quarter and 32 in the prior year.
Our leasing spreads for 3Q '21 are 5.4% versus 3.1% in the prior quarter and 2.9% in the prior year, both of which are moving in a positive direction.
In summary, the update I've shared with you today highlights, in particular, our business model continues to perform exceptionally well.
Our leasing strategy focusing on entrepreneurial tenants continues to produce consistent results.
And most notably, we are continuing to make good progress to achieving our long-term goals.
While we are pleased with our continued improving performance, we know that the work ahead of us is cut out, but our team remains committed to serving our shareholders and increasing long-term value.
I appreciate the opportunity to share some great results for the third quarter.
During the quarter, our best-in-class geography and strategically designed tenant mix have produced strong top line and bottom line growth, and our long-term focus and day-to-day execution have allowed us to make significant progress toward our long-term goals of scaling our infrastructure and improving our overall debt leverage.
The MSAs that we operate in, continue to see significant population migration and corporate relocations producing jobs from other areas of the country.
This is best evidenced by record leasing activity, occupancy and annualized base rent growth, year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter topline revenue, NOI and FFO growth, robust leasing spreads, strong same-store NOI growth, reduced debt levels and interest cost resulting in improved debt leverage metrics and greater scale of our G&A infrastructure.
Total revenue was $32.4 million for the quarter, up 6% from the second quarter and up 9% from the third quarter of 2020.
The revenue growth was driven by a sequential 0.3% increase in same-store occupancy from Q2 and a 1.2% improvement compared to Q3 of 2020.
We are also benefiting from our ABR per square foot, rising 2.3% sequentially and 5.3% from a year ago along with lower and collectability reserves.
Property net operating income was $23.2 million for the quarter, up 5% sequentially and up 9% from the third quarter of 2020.
Q3 same-store NOI increased 7% from Q3 of 2020.
Net income for the quarter was $0.06 per share, up from $0.02 per share in the prior year quarter.
Funds from operations core was $0.25 per share in the quarter, up 9% from the second quarter of 2020 and year-to-date FFO core per share was $0.75 per share, up 9% from the same period of 2020.
Our leasing activity in the quarter continued to build on our very strong first and second quarters, with 38 new leases, representing 90,000 square feet of newly occupied spaces.
Our new leasing activity for the nine months was 56% higher on a square foot basis than 2020 and 48% higher than 2019.
On a total lease value basis, our new leasing activity for the nine months was 112% higher than 2020 and 191% higher than 2019.
Leasing spreads on a GAAP basis have been a positive 8.5% over the last 12 months and third quarter leasing spreads increased by 5.4% on new leases and 14.1% on renewal leases signed.
Our annualized base rent per square foot on a GAAP basis at the end of the quarter grew 2.3% to $20.41 from $19.95 in the previous quarter and increased 5.3% from a year ago.
Total operating portfolio occupancy stood at 90.2%, up 1.2% from a year ago and up 0.3% from the second quarter.
Including our newest acquisition Lakeside Market, our total occupancy is 89.9%, up 1% from a year ago.
Our collections continued to be very strong in the third quarter, reflecting the overall high collection levels and collections on tenants classified as cash basis.
Our tenant receivables decreased by $1 million, an improvement of 4.4% from year-end 2020.
Our interest expense was 4% lower than a year ago, reflecting our lower net debt.
At quarter end, we had $22 million in accrued rents and accounts receivable.
Included in this amount is $17.8 million of accrued straight-line rents and $1.3 million of agreed upon deferrals.
Our agreed upon deferral balance is down 43% from year-end reflecting tenants honoring their payment plans.
Turning to our balance sheet.
Since early last year, we have implemented various measures to strengthen our liquidity.
Our total net debt was $616.6 million, down $20.5 million from a year ago, improving our debt to gross book real estate cost ratio to 51% down from 55% a year ago.
Our debt to EBITDA ratio improved 1.3 turns from a year ago and 0.1 turn from the second quarter to 8.1 times in Q3.
We are pleased with the significant progress we are making toward our long-term debt reduction goal and remain steadfast in our commitment in this area.
As of quarter end, we have $155.5 million of undrawn capacity and $81.8 million of borrowing availability under our credit facility.
During the quarter, we sold 3 million common shares under our ATM program, resulting in $28 million in net proceeds to the company at an average sale price of $9.49 per share.
These strong results in 2021 are a testament to the strength of Whitestone's strategic geographic focus and business model.
We are encouraged by the acquisition of Lakeside Market in the quarter and look forward to continued delivery of value to all of Whitestone's stakeholders.
With that now -- we will now take questions.
Operator, please open the lines.

user
q3 ffo per share $0.25.
q3 revenue $32.4 million versus $29.9 million.

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