Extra Space Storage Inc

Excuse me, this is the operator. Today's conference is scheduled to begin momentarily. Until that time, your lines will be kindly placed on hold. Thank you for your patience. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good day and welcome to the Q1 2022 Extra Space Storage Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to Jeff Norman. Senior Vice President, Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Ashley. Welcome to Extra Space Storage's first quarter 2022 earnings call. In addition to our press release, we have furnished unaudited supplemental financial information on our website. Please remember that management's prepared remarks and answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by our forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business. These forward-looking statements are qualified by the cautionary statements contained in the company's latest filings with the SEC, which we encourage our listeners to review. Forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of today, May 4, 2022. The company assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements because of changing market conditions or other circumstances after the date of this conference call. I would now like to turn the call over to Joe Margolis, Chief Executive Officer.

Thanks, Jeff, and thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. We are off to a great start in 2022. Year-over-year same-store revenue growth in the quarter was 21.7%. a new all-time high for extra space, driving same-store NOI growth of 27.6%. This was achieved primarily through year-over-year rental rate growth, partially offset by a modest decrease in year-over-year occupancy. Industry fundamentals continue to be strong, operational performance has been exceptional in all markets, and we are well-positioned for another strong summer leasing season. A few weeks ago, we met with over 220 of our third-party management and joint venture partners in Austin, Texas, for a few days of company updates and industry news. Most importantly, it provided a forum to explore opportunities for extra space and our great partners to grow together. These partnerships and relationships continue to be an important part of our external growth strategy, as shown in our first quarter results. Like last year, most of our acquisition activity consisted of non-stabilized stores acquired from existing relationships. Total first quarter investment by Extra Space was ahead of our expectations at $229 million. We also closed $138 million in bridge loans, and we added 37 additional stores gross to our management platforms. all of our various internal and external growth channels are working. We continue to find opportunities despite the competitive market, and we have strong pipelines for each of these platforms. Our property NOI plus our external growth efforts resulted in core FFO growth of 34 percent, which allowed our board to increase our first quarter dividend to $1.50 a share 20% over the previous quarter's dividend, and 50% over the first quarter 2021 dividend. It continues to be a great time for the storage sector and particularly for extra space. All aspects of the machine are working really well, and we are looking forward to a very successful 2022. I'll now turn the time over to Scott.