National Storage Affiliates Trust

Greetings and welcome to National Storage Affiliates third quarter 2021 conference call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to George Hoogland, Vice President of Investor Relations, thank you. You may begin.

We'd like to thank you for joining us today for the third quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call of National Storage Affiliates Trust. On the line with me here today are NSA's CEO, Tamara Fisher, COO, Dave Kramer, and CFO, Brandon Tagashi. Following prepared remarks, management will accept questions from registered financial analysts. In addition to the press release distributed yesterday, we furnished our supplemental package with additional detail on our results, which may be found in the investor relations section on our website at nationalstorageaffiliates.com. On today's call, management's prepared remarks and answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties and represent management's estimates as of today, November 3rd, 2021. The company assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement because of changing market conditions or other circumstances after the date of this conference call. The company cautions that actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. For additional detail concerning our forward-looking statements, please refer to our public filings with the SEC. We also encourage listeners to review the definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures such as FFO, core FFO, and net operating income contained in the supplemental information package available in the investor relations section on our website and in our SEC filings. I will now turn the call over to Tammy.

Thanks, George, and thanks, everyone, for joining our call today. Before we talk about our results for the quarter, I'd like to open by acknowledging and thanking our team for their extraordinary dedication and hard work which allows us to again deliver exceptional results for the quarter. The results we announced yesterday, including growth in same-store NOI of 24% and growth in core FFO per share of 30%, are indicative of the ongoing strength of our sector, as well as the benefits of our differentiated structure. Continued near-record occupancy levels have allowed us to assertively drive rate growth, both for new and existing customers. And right now, there are no apparent signs of any near-term headwinds, which bodes well for the remainder of the year and implies a strong start to 2022. On the external growth front, the volume of deals in the market remains at unprecedented levels. During the third quarter, we invested $600 million in 76 properties, bringing our total acquisition volume through the first nine months of the year to 119 properties valued at just over a billion dollars. In October, we invested approximately $325 million in 39 stores. This results in our current year-to-date investment in acquisitions of over $1.3 billion, surpassing the top end of our prior guidance range. Cap rates on these deals range from just below 5% to over 6% and vary based on location. Source of the deal, whether it was marketed, off-marketed, or from our captive pipeline, and whether there's a portfolio premium or some element of lease-up involved. But the weighted average cap rate on all of our transactions closed this year is in the mid-five cap range. We continue to see meaningful competition for transactions, and the amount of capital seeking to establish or expand a position in self-storage continues to drive cap rate compression, especially on larger portfolios. We remain disciplined in our underwriting and continue to benefit from our pro-structure which essentially provides us with 10 acquisition teams and 10 operations teams across the country to source deals and integrate acquisition assets into our portfolio. About two-thirds of our deals closed this year have been off market or from our captive pipeline, where we tend to buy at cap rates slightly above market. It's also worth pointing out that just over 10% of the deals we've closed year-to-date were in some stage of lease-up, which further depresses the first-year cap rate. As we look forward, we have additional deals valued at over $300 million under contract that we expect to close by the end of the year. Our exceptional third quarter results, elevated acquisition volume, and continued tailwinds in the sector led us to again revise guidance this quarter. We increased the midpoint of year-over-year growth in same-store NOI to 19%. full-year growth in core FFO per share to nearly 30%, and revised our expectations for acquisition volume to $1.75 billion at the midpoint. Brandon will discuss our revised guidance further in his comments. The fundamental backdrop for self-storage remains very favorable, and our team is executing at a very high level to deliver exceptional results for all stakeholders. Our historical commitment to secondary and tertiary markets as well as our differentiated pro structure, continue to serve us well. I'll now turn the call over to Dave to provide color on what we're seeing on the ground. Dave?