SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2021

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

Share-based awards are provided to officers, non-officer employees, and trustees under the 2015 Incentive Plan approved by shareholders on September 15, 2015, as amended and restated on May 18, 2021 (the “2015 Incentive Plan”) which allows for awards in the form of cash, unrestricted and restricted common shares, stock options, stock appreciation rights, and RSUs up to an aggregate of 775,000 shares over the ten-year period in which the plan is in effect. Under the 2015 Incentive Plan, officers and non-officer employees may earn share awards under a long-term incentive plan, which is a forward-looking program that measures long-term performance over the stated performance period. These awards are payable to the extent deemed earned in shares. The terms of the long-term incentive awards granted under the revised program may vary from year to year.

2021 LTIP Awards

Awards granted to employees on January 1, 2021, consist of an aggregate of 6,410 time-based RSU awards, 19,224 performance RSUs based on total shareholder return (“TSR”), and 43,629 stock options. The time-based awards vest as to one-third of the shares on each of January 1, 2022, January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024. The stock options vest as to 25% on each of January 1, 2022, January 1, 2023, January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025. The fair value of stock options was $7.383 per share and was estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions:


	2021
Exercise price	$	70.64
Risk-free rate	0.65		%
Expected term	6.25 years
Expected volatility	21.08		%
Dividend yield	3.963		%

The TSR performance RSUs are earned based on the Company’s TSR as compared to the FTSE Nareit Apartment Index over a forward looking three-year period. The maximum number of RSUs eligible to be earned is 38,448 RSUs, which is 200% of the RSUs granted. Earned awards (if any) will fully vest as of the last day of the measurement period. These awards have market conditions in addition to service conditions that must be met for the awards to vest. Compensation expense is recognized ratably based on the grant date fair value, as determined using the Monte Carlo valuation model, regardless of whether the market conditions are achieved and the awards ultimately vest. Therefore, previously recorded compensation expense is not adjusted in the event that the market conditions are not achieved. The Company based the expected volatility on a weighted average of the historical volatility of the Company’s daily closing share price and a select peer average volatility, the risk-free interest rate on the interest rates on U.S. treasury bonds with a maturity equal to the remaining performance period of the award, and the expected term on the performance period of the award. The assumptions used to value the TSR performance RSUs were an expected volatility of 20.63%, a risk-free interest rate of 0.17%, and an expected life of 3 years. The share price at the grant date, January 1, 2021, was $70.64 per share.

Awards granted to trustees on May 18, 2021, consist of 6,061 time-based RSUs, which vest on May 18, 2022. These awards are classified as equity awards.

Share-Based Compensation Expense

Share-based compensation expense recognized in the consolidated financial statements for all outstanding share-based awards was $1.5 million and $967,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.