ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
In addition to the other information in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, you should consider the risks described below that we believe may be material to investors in evaluating the Company. This section contains forward-looking statements, and in considering these statements, you should refer to the qualifications and limitations on our forward-looking statements that are described in “Item 1. Business.”
Risks Related to Our Properties and Our Business
Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, civil unrest, or other events that could damage or otherwise disrupt our ability to operate our facilities could adversely impact our business and financial results.
Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, and floods, terrorist attacks, civil unrest, and other events that damage our facilities or our customers’ property, or that make our facilities temporarily unavailable, have in the past and may in the future adversely impact our business and financial results. Damage and business interruption losses could exceed the aggregate limits of our insurance coverage. In addition, because we self-insure a portion of our risks, losses below a certain level may not be covered by insurance. See Note 14 to our December 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements for a description of the risks of losses that are not covered by third-party insurance contracts. Our exposure to these types of events is increased by potential tenant claims associated with our tenant reinsurance business. In addition, customer perceptions about the risk of property loss from these events could negatively impact self-storage demand.
We are subject to risks from the consequences of climate change, including severe weather events and the adverse impact of other steps that may be taken to prevent or mitigate climate change.
Our self-storage facilities are located in areas that may be subject to the direct impacts of climate change, such as increased destructive weather events like floods, fires, drought, and prolonged periods of extreme temperature or other extreme weather, which could result in significant damage to our facilities, increased capital expenditures, increased expenses, reduced revenues, or reduced demand for our facilities. Indirect impacts of climate change could also adversely impact our business, including through increased costs, such as insurance costs or regulatory compliance costs. In addition, government and private efforts to transition to a low-carbon economy present certain risks for us and our customers, including increased energy costs and macroeconomic risks related to high energy costs and energy shortages, among other things. Governmental, political, and societal pressures, including expectations of institutional and activist investors and other interest groups, could require us to implement or accelerate emissions initiatives and, with it, the costs of their implementation. These same potential governmental, political, and social pressures could in the future result in, among other things, (i) costly changes to newly developed facilities or retrofits of our existing facilities to reduce carbon emissions through multiple avenues, including changes to insulation, space configuration, lighting, heating, and air conditioning and (ii) increased energy costs as a result of transitioning to less carbon-intensive, but more expensive, sources of energy to operate our facilities. For example, beginning in 2026, we expect to be required to disclose our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data and certain climate-related risk matters under California SB 253 and SB 261, which we expect to result in increased compliance costs. In addition, our reputation and investor relationships could be damaged as a result of our involvement with activities perceived to be causing or exacerbating climate change, as well as any decisions we make to continue to conduct or change our activities in response to considerations relating to climate change.
Operating costs, including property taxes, could increase.
We could be subject to increases in property or other taxes, repair and maintenance costs, payroll, utility costs, insurance premiums, workers compensation, and other operating expenses due to various factors such as inflation, labor shortages, commodity and energy price increases, weather, increases to minimum wage rates, supply chain disruptions, and changes to governmental safety and real estate use limitations and other governmental actions. Our property tax expense, which totaled approximately $452.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, generally depends upon the assessed value of our real estate facilities as determined by assessors and government agencies and, accordingly, could be subject to substantial increases if such agencies change their valuation approaches or opinions or if new laws are enacted, especially if new approaches are adopted or laws are enacted that result in increased property tax assessments in states or geographies where we have a high concentration of facilities. See also “We have exposure to increased property tax in California” below.
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The acquisition of existing properties or self-storage operating companies is subject to risks that may adversely affect our growth and financial results.
We have acquired self-storage facilities and self-storage operating companies in the past, and we expect to continue to do so in the future. We face significant competition for suitable acquisition properties and companies from other real estate investors, including operating companies and private equity funds. As a result, we may be unable to acquire the companies or additional properties we desire or the purchase price for desirable companies or properties may be significantly increased. Failures or unexpected circumstances in integrating facilities or companies that we acquire, or circumstances we did not detect or anticipate during due diligence, such as environmental matters, needed repairs or deferred maintenance, customer collection issues, assumed liabilities, turnover of critical personnel involved in acquired operating companies, or the effects of increased property tax following reassessment of a newly-acquired property, as well as the general risks of real estate investment and mergers and acquisitions, could jeopardize realization of the anticipated earnings from an acquisition.
Our development program subjects us to risks.
At December 31, 2024, we had a pipeline of development projects totaling $741.6 million (subject to contingencies), and we expect to continue to seek additional development projects. There are significant risks involved in developing self-storage facilities, such as delays, cost increases, or inability to complete development projects due to changes in or failure to meet government or regulatory requirements, failure of revenue to meet our underwriting estimates, delays caused by weather issues, unforeseen site conditions, or personnel problems. Self-storage space is generally not pre-leased, and rent-up of newly developed space can be delayed or ongoing cash flow yields can be reduced due to competition, reductions in storage demand, or other factors.
There is significant competition among self-storage operators and from other storage alternatives.
Our self-storage facilities generate most of our revenue and earnings. Significant competition from self-storage operators, property developers, and other storage alternatives may adversely impact our ability to attract and retain customers and may negatively impact our ability to generate revenue. Competition in the local market areas in which many of our properties are located is significant and affects our occupancy levels, rental rates, and operating expenses, particularly advertising costs. There is also an increasing influx of capital from outside financing sources driving more money, development, and supply into the industry. Development of self-storage facilities may increase, which may intensify competition as newly developed facilities are opened. Development of self-storage facilities by other operators could increase, due to increases in availability of funds for investment or other reasons, and further intensify competition.
Demand for self-storage facilities may be affected by customer perceptions and factors outside of our control.
Significantly lower logistics costs could introduce new competitors, such as valet-style storage services, which may reduce the demand for traditional self-storage. Customer preferences and/or needs for self-storage could change, decline, or shift to other product types, thereby impacting our business model and ability to grow and/or generate revenues. Shifts in population and demographics could cause the geographical distribution of our portfolio to be suboptimal and affect our ability to maintain occupancy and attract new customers. Security incidents could result in the perception that our properties are not safe. If our customers do not feel our properties are safe, they may select competitors for their self-storage needs, or if there is an industry perception of inadequate security generally, customer use of self-storage could be negatively impacted.
Our newly developed and expanded facilities, and facilities that we manage for third party owners, may negatively impact the revenues of our legacy facilities.
We continue to develop new self-storage facilities and expand our existing self-storage facilities. In addition, we are seeking to increase the number of self-storage facilities that we manage for third party owners in exchange for a fee, many of which are in the process of stabilization and are near our existing stabilized self-storage facilities. In order to hasten the fill-up of these new facilities, we aggressively price such space during the fill-up period. While we believe that this aggressive pricing allows us to increase our market share relative to our competitors and increase the cash flows of these properties, such pricing and the added capacity may also negatively impact our existing stabilized self-storage facilities that are near these unstabilized facilities.
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We may incur significant liabilities from environmental contamination or moisture infiltration.
Existing or future laws impose or may impose liability on us to clean up environmental contamination on or around properties that we currently or previously owned or operated, even if we were not responsible for or aware of the environmental contamination or even if such environmental contamination occurred prior to our involvement with the property. We have conducted preliminary environmental assessments on most of our properties, which have not identified any material liabilities. These assessments, commonly referred to as “Phase 1 Environmental Assessments,” include an investigation (excluding soil or groundwater sampling or analysis) and a review of publicly available information regarding the site and other nearby properties.
We are also subject to potential liability relating to moisture infiltration, which can result in mold or other damage to our or our customers’ property, as well as potential health concerns. When we receive a complaint or otherwise become aware that an air quality concern exists, we implement corrective measures and seek to work proactively with our customers to resolve issues, subject to our contractual limitations on liability for such claims.
We are not aware of any environmental contamination or moisture infiltration related liabilities at any of our properties that could be material to our overall business, financial condition, or results of operation. However, we may not have detected all material liabilities, we could acquire properties with material undetected liabilities, or new conditions could arise or develop at our properties, any of which could result in a cash settlement or adversely affect our ability to sell, lease, operate, or encumber affected facilities.
Elevated interest rate levels could adversely impact us and our tenants.
Interest rates remain elevated compared to recent years and may increase. As a result, if we issued new debt or preferred shares or refinanced our indebtedness, our debt service costs or preferred share dividend yields would likely be, based on current interest rates, significantly higher than current financing costs. Elevated interest rates also adversely impact the relative attractiveness of the dividend yield on our common shares. Increases in our cost of capital impact our assessment of the yields we consider appropriate to support pursuing property acquisition and development opportunities and thus can impact our external growth prospects. The degree and pace of these changes have had and may continue to have adverse macroeconomic effects that have and may continue to have adverse impacts on our tenants, including as a result of economic recession, increased unemployment, and increased financing costs. For more information on interest rate risk, see Part II, “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk”.
Economic conditions can adversely affect our business, financial condition, and growth.
Economic downturns or adverse economic or industry conditions, including those related to high levels of inflation, could adversely impact our financial results, growth, and access to capital. Our revenues and operating cash flow can be negatively impacted by reductions in employment and population levels, household and disposable income, and other general economic factors that lead to a reduction in demand for self-storage space in each of the markets in which we operate.
We have exposure to European operations through our ownership in Shurgard.
We own approximately 35% of the common shares of Shurgard, and this investment has a $382.5 million book value and a $1.3 billion market value (based upon the closing trading price of Shurgard’s common stock) at December 31, 2024. We recognized $19.8 million in equity in earnings and received $22.8 million in dividends in 2024 with respect to Shurgard.
Shurgard, as an owner, operator, and developer of self-storage facilities, is subject to many of the same risks we are with respect to self-storage. However, through our investment in Shurgard, we are exposed to additional risks unique to the various European markets in which Shurgard operates, which may adversely impact our business and financial results, and many of which are referred to in Shurgard’s public filings. These risks include the following:
•Currency risks: Currency fluctuations can impact the fair value of our investment in Shurgard, our equity earnings, our ongoing dividends, and any other related repatriations of cash.
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•Legislative, tax, and regulatory risks: Shurgard is subject to a variety of local, national, and pan-European laws and regulations related to permitting and land use, the environment, labor, and other areas, as well as income, property, sales, and value added and employment tax. These laws and regulations can be difficult to apply or interpret, can vary in each country or locality, and are subject to unexpected changes in their form and application due to regional, national, or local political uncertainty and other factors. Such changes, or Shurgard’s failure to comply with these laws, could subject it to penalties or other sanctions, adverse changes in business processes, and, potentially, adverse income tax, property tax, or other tax burdens.
•Impediments to capital repatriation could negatively impact the realization of our investment in Shurgard: Laws in Europe and the U.S. may create, impede, or increase our cost to repatriate distributions received from Shurgard or proceeds from the sale of Shurgard shares.
•Risks of collective bargaining: Collective bargaining, which is prevalent in certain areas in Europe, could negatively impact Shurgard’s labor costs or operations. Many of Shurgard’s employees participate in various national unions.
•Potential operating and individual country risks: Economic slowdowns or extraordinary political or social change in the countries in which it operates have posed, and could continue to pose, challenges or result in future reductions of Shurgard’s operating cash flows.
•Liquidity of our ownership stake: We have no plans to liquidate our interest in Shurgard. However, while Shurgard is a publicly held entity, if we chose to, our ability to liquidate our shares in Shurgard in an efficient manner could be limited by the level of Shurgard’s public “float” relative to any ownership stake we sought to sell. Our existing relationship with our legacy joint venture partner may place further contractual limitations on our ability to sell all of the shares we own if we desired to do so.
•Impediments of Shurgard’s public ownership structure: Shurgard’s strategic decisions, involving activities such as borrowing money, capital contributions, raising capital from third parties, and selling or acquiring significant assets, are determined by its board of directors. As a result, Shurgard may be precluded from taking advantage of opportunities that we would find attractive but that we may not be able to pursue separately, or it could take actions that we do not agree with.
Public health and other crises have adversely impacted, and may in the future adversely impact, our business.
Our business is subject to risks from public health and other crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, including, among others:
•risk of illness or death of our employees or customers;
•negative impacts on economic conditions in our markets, which may reduce the demand for self-storage;
•risk that there could be an out-migration of population from major markets where we operate;
•government restrictions that (i) limit or prevent use of our facilities, (ii) limit our ability to increase rent or otherwise limit the rent we can charge, (iii) limit our ability to collect rent or evict delinquent tenants, or (iv) limit our ability to complete development and redevelopment projects;
•risk that we could experience a change in the move-out patterns of our long-term customers due to economic uncertainty and increases in unemployment, which could lead to lower occupancies and rent “roll down” as long-term customers are replaced with new customers at lower rates; and
•risk of negative impacts on the cost and availability of debt and equity capital, which could have a material impact upon our capital and growth plans.
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We have been and may in the future be adversely impacted by emergency regulations adopted in response to significant events, such as natural disasters or public health crises, that could adversely impact our operations.
In response to significant events, local, state, and federal governments have and may in the future adopt regulations that could impact our operations. For example, in response to wildfires in 2018, 2019, and early 2025 and floods in 2023, the State of California and some localities in California adopted temporary regulations that imposed certain limits on the rents we could charge at certain of our facilities and the extent to which we could increase rents to existing tenants. Similarly, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, certain localities adopted restrictions on the use of certain of our facilities, limited our ability to increase rents, limited our ability to collect rent or evict delinquent tenants, and limited our ability to complete development and redevelopment projects. Similar restrictions could be imposed in the future in response to significant events and these restrictions could adversely impact our operations.
Our marketing and pricing strategies may fail to be effective or may be constrained by factors outside of our control.
Marketing initiatives, including our increasing dependence on Google to source customers, may fail to be effective and could negatively impact financial performance. Approximately 67% of our new storage customers in 2024 were sourced directly or indirectly through “unpaid” search and “paid” search campaigns on Google. We believe that the vast majority of customers searching for self-storage use Google at some stage in their shopping experience. Google is providing tools to allow smaller and less sophisticated operators to bid for search terms, increasing competition for self-storage search terms. The predominance of Google in the shopping experience, as well as Google’s enabling of additional competitors to bid for placements in self-storage search terms, may reduce the number of new customers that we can procure, and/or increase our costs to obtain new customers.
In addition, the inability to utilize our pricing methodology due to regulatory or market constraints could also significantly impact our financial results.
We are exposed to ongoing litigation and other legal and regulatory actions, which may divert management’s time and attention, require us to pay damages and expenses or restrict the operation of our business.
We have approximately 5,900 employees and 2.0 million customers, and we conduct business at facilities in 40 states. As a result, we are subject to the risk of legal claims and proceedings (including class actions) and regulatory enforcement actions across many jurisdictions in the ordinary course of our business and otherwise, and we could incur significant liabilities and substantial legal fees from these actions. Resolution of these claims and actions may divert time and attention of our management and could involve payment of damages or expenses by us, all of which may be significant, and could damage our reputation and our brand. In addition, any such resolution could involve our agreement to terms that restrict the operation of our business. The results of legal proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty. We cannot guarantee that losses incurred in connection with any current or future legal or regulatory proceedings or actions will not exceed any provisions we may have set aside in respect of such proceedings or actions or any available insurance coverage. Any such legal claims, proceedings, and regulatory enforcement actions could negatively impact our operating results, cash flow available for distribution or reinvestment, and/or the price of our common shares.
In addition, through exercising their authority to regulate our activities, governmental agencies can otherwise negatively impact our business by increasing costs or decreasing revenues, including through restrictions on rent increases or fees.
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Our use of or failure to adopt advancements in information technology may hinder or prevent us from achieving strategic objectives or otherwise harm our business.
Our use of or inability to adopt and deliver new technological capabilities and enhancements in line with strategic objectives, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, may put us at a competitive disadvantage; cause us to miss opportunities to innovate, achieve efficiencies, or improve the customer experience; or adversely impact our business, reputation, results of operations, and financial condition. Legislative activity in the privacy area may also result in new laws that are applicable to us and that may hinder our business, including by restricting our use of customer data or otherwise regulating the use of algorithms and automated processing in ways that could materially affect our business or lead to significant increases in the cost of compliance. In addition, the use of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, entails risks including risks relating to the possibility of intellectual property infringement or misappropriation; data privacy; new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, requirements, litigation, or other liability; ethical concerns; negative consumer perceptions as to automation and artificial intelligence; or other complications or liabilities that could adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations, or financial results.
The failure or disruption of our computer and communications systems, on which we are heavily dependent,could significantly harm our business.
We are heavily dependent upon automated information technology and Internet commerce, with more than half of our new customers coming from the telephone or over the Internet. We centrally manage significant components of our operations with our computer systems, including our financial information, and we also rely extensively on third-party vendors to retain data, process transactions, and provide other systems services. These systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, system, network, internet and telecommunications failures, hackers, including through a ransomware attack, computer worms, viruses, and other destructive or disruptive cybersecurity incidents, and catastrophic events. Such incidents could also result in significant costs to repair or replace such networks or information systems, as well as actual monetary losses in case of a cybersecurity incident that resulted in fraudulent payments or other cash transactions. Our operations could be severely impacted by a natural disaster, terrorist attack, attack by hackers, acts of vandalism, data theft, misplaced or lost data, programming or human error, or other circumstance that results in a significant outage of our systems or those of our third party providers, despite our use of back up and redundancy measures. While we may be entitled to damages if our third-party providers fail to satisfy their security-related obligations to us, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such award.
If our confidential information is compromised or corrupted, including as a result of a cybersecurity incident, our reputation and business relationships could be damaged and our financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
In the ordinary course of our business we acquire and store sensitive data, including personally identifiable information of our prospective and current customers and our employees. The secure processing and maintenance of this information is critical to our operations and business strategy. Although we believe we and our third-party service providers have taken commercially reasonable steps to protect the security of our confidential information, information security risks have generally increased in recent years due to the rise in new technologies and the increased sophistication and activities of perpetrators of cyberattacks. Further, new technologies such as artificial intelligence may be more capable at evading these safeguard measures. Despite our security measures, we face cybersecurity threats, including system, network, or Internet failures; cyberattacks, ransomware, and other malware; social engineering; and phishing schemes. In these cases, our information technology and infrastructure could be vulnerable and our or our customers’ or employees’ confidential information could be compromised or misappropriated. Any such cybersecurity incident, including those impacting personal information, could result in serious and harmful consequences for us or our customers. A cybersecurity incident could also interfere with our ability to comply with financial reporting requirements. Additionally, future or past business transactions (such as acquisitions or integrations) could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and threats, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities’ systems and technologies. Furthermore, we may discover security issues that were not found during due diligence of such acquired or integrated entities, and it may be difficult to integrate companies into our information technology environment and security program.
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Our confidential information may also be compromised due to programming or human error, negligence, or fraud. Although we and our third-party service providers make efforts to maintain the security and integrity of our information, including the implementation of security measures, required employee awareness training, and the existence of a disaster recovery plan, there is no guarantee that they will be adequate to safeguard against all cybersecurity incidents or misuses of data. In addition, as the regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and changing requirements applicable to our business from multiple regulatory agencies at the local, state, federal, or international level, compliance with those requirements could also result in additional costs, or we could fail to comply with those requirements due to various reasons.
Any such access, disclosure, or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, regulatory penalties, disruption to our operations and the services we provide to customers, or damage to our reputation, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations, reputation, and competitive position. In addition, our customers could lose confidence in our ability to protect their personal information, which could cause them to discontinue leasing our self-storage facilities. Such events could lead to lost future revenues and adversely affect our results of operations, or result in remedial and other costs, fines, or lawsuits, which could exceed any available insurance that we have procured.
We have identified and expect to continue to identify cyberattacks and cybersecurity incidents on our systems and those of third parties we rely upon, but none of the cyberattacks and incidents we have identified to date has had a material impact on our business or operations. While we have purchased cybersecurity insurance, there are no assurances that the coverage would be adequate in relation to any incurred losses. Moreover, as cyberattacks increase in frequency and magnitude, we may be unable to obtain cybersecurity insurance in amounts and on terms we view as adequate for our operations.
Further information relating to cybersecurity risk management is discussed in Item 1C. “Cybersecurity” in this report.
Ineffective succession planning for our CEO and executive management, as well as for our other key employees, may impact the execution of our strategic plan.
We may not effectively or appropriately identify ready-now succession candidates for our CEO and executive management team, which may negatively impact our ability to meet key strategic goals. Failure to implement succession plans for other key employees may leave us vulnerable to retirements and turnover.
We may fail to protect our intellectual property adequately.
We maintain a portfolio of trademarks and trade dress that we believe are fundamental to the success of the Public Storage® brand. While we actively seek to enforce and expand our rights, failure to adequately protect our rights could lead to loss of such trademark and trade dress protection. We also own and seek to protect other intellectual property, such as propriety systems, processes, data, and other trade secrets that we have collected and developed in the course of operating our business and that we believe provides us with various competitive advantages. Our protections could be inadequate or we could lose rights to our other intellectual property and trade secrets. Competitor use of our trademarks and trade names could lead to likelihood of confusion, tarnishment of our brand, and loss of legal protection for our marks.
We may be subject to labor disruptions related to unionization efforts.
Our employees have been and may in the future be subject to unionization efforts. These activities could lead to labor disruptions which could adversely impact our ability to operate our business and could negatively impact our reputation. In addition, these activities could result in collective bargaining agreements, which could result in increased operating and legal costs.
Our use of artificial intelligence could expose us to various risks.
We have begun to utilize artificial intelligence technologies in various aspects of our business. Artificial intelligence technologies are susceptible to errors and other malfunctions which could lead to operational challenges and reputational risks. In addition, we may be subject to increasing regulations related to our use of these technologies, including regulations related to privacy, data security, and intellectual property rights, which could expose us to legal risks.
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Risks Related to Our Ownership, Organization and Structure
Takeover attempts or changes in control could be thwarted, even if beneficial to shareholders.
In certain circumstances, shareholders might desire a change in control or acquisition of us in order to realize a premium over the then-prevailing market price of our shares or for other reasons. However, the following could prevent, deter, or delay such a transaction:
•Provisions of Maryland law may impose limitations that may make it more difficult for a third party to negotiate or effect a business combination transaction or control share acquisition with Public Storage. Currently, our Board has opted not to subject the Company to these provisions of Maryland law, but it could choose to do so in the future without shareholder approval.
•To protect against the loss of our REIT status due to concentration of ownership levels, our declaration of trust generally limits the ability of a person, other than the Hughes family or “designated investment entities” (each as defined in our declaration of trust), to own, actually or constructively, more than 3% of our outstanding common shares or 9.9% of the outstanding shares of any class or series of preferred or equity shares. Our Board may grant, and has previously granted, a specific exemption. These limits could discourage, delay, or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of the Company not approved by our Board.
•Similarly, current provisions of our declaration of trust and powers of our Board could have the same effect, including (1) limitations on removal of trustees, (2) restrictions on the acquisition of our shares of beneficial interest, (3) the power to issue additional common shares, preferred shares, or equity shares on terms approved by our Board without obtaining shareholder approval, (4) the advance notice provisions of our bylaws, and (5) our Board’s ability under Maryland law, without obtaining shareholder approval, to implement takeover defenses that we may not yet have and to take, or refrain from taking, other actions that could have the effect of delaying, deterring, or preventing a transaction or a change in control.
Holders of our preferred shares have dividend, liquidation, and other rights that are senior to the rights of the holders of our common shares.
Holders of our preferred shares are entitled to cumulative dividends before any dividends may be declared or set aside on our common shares. Upon liquidation, holders of our preferred shares will receive a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share (or $25.00 per depositary share) plus any accrued and unpaid distributions before any payment is made to the common shareholders. These preferences may limit the amount received by our common shareholders either from ongoing distributions or upon liquidation. In addition, our preferred shareholders have the right to elect two additional directors to our Board whenever dividends are in arrears in an aggregate amount equivalent to six or more quarterly dividends, whether or not consecutive.
Public Storage is a holding company with no direct operations, and it relies on funds received from PSA OP and PSOC to pay its obligations and make distributions to shareholders
Public Storage is a holding company with no direct operations. All of Public Storage’s property ownership, development, and related business operations are conducted through PSOC (which is wholly-owned by PSA OP) and Public Storage has no material assets or liabilities other than its investment in PSA OP. As a result, Public Storage relies on distributions from PSA OP, which in turn relies on distributions from PSOC, to make common and preferred share dividend payments. Although Public Storage currently wholly-owns (directly or indirectly) PSA OP and PSOC, and therefore exercises exclusive control over PSA OP and PSOC, including the authority to cause PSA OP and PSOC to make distributions, in connection with our future acquisition activities or otherwise, PSA OP may issue additional units of limited partnership to third parties, and these limited partners may negotiate for certain rights. In addition, because Public Storage is a holding company, shareholder claims are structurally subordinated to all existing and future liabilities of PSA OP and PSOC and their subsidiaries. Therefore, in the event of a bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation or reorganization of PSA OP or PSOC, or their subsidiaries, assets of PSA OP or PSOC or the applicable subsidiary will be available to satisfy any claims of our shareholders only after such liabilities and obligations have been satisfied in full.
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Holders of our preferred shares are subject to certain risks.
Holders of our preferred shares have preference rights over our common shareholders with respect to liquidation and distributions, which give them some assurance of continued payment of their stated dividend rate, and receipt of their principal upon liquidation of the Company or redemption of their securities. However, holders of our preferred shares should consider the following risks:
•The Company has in the past, and could in the future, issue or assume additional debt. Preferred shareholders would be subordinated to the interest and principal payments of such debt, which would increase the risk that there would not be sufficient funds to pay distributions or liquidation amounts to the preferred shareholders.
•The Company has in the past, and could in the future, issue additional preferred shares that, while pari passu to the existing preferred shares, increases the risk that there would not be sufficient funds to pay distributions to the preferred shareholders.
•While the Company has no plans to do so, if the Company were to lose its REIT status or no longer elect REIT status, it would no longer be required to distribute its taxable income to maintain REIT status. If, in such a circumstance, the Company ceased paying dividends, unpaid distributions to the preferred shareholders would continue to accumulate. The preferred shareholders would have the ability to elect two additional members to serve on our Board until the arrearage was cured. The preferred shareholders would not receive any compensation (such as interest) for the delay in the receipt of distributions, and it is possible that the arrearage could accumulate indefinitely.
•Holders of our Preferred Shares have limited rights in the event the Company ceases to pay dividends to shareholders and have no rights with respect to a Company decision to discontinue listing the Preferred Shares on a national securities exchange or file reports with the SEC, including following a change of control transaction.
Risks Related to Government Regulations and Taxation
We would incur adverse tax consequences if we failed to qualify as a REIT, and we would have to pay substantial U.S. federal corporate income taxes.
REITs are subject to a range of complex organizational and operational requirements. A qualifying REIT does not generally incur U.S. federal corporate income tax on its “REIT taxable income” (generally, taxable income subject to specified adjustments, including a deduction for dividends paid and excluding net capital gain) that it distributes to its shareholders. Our REIT status is also dependent upon the REIT qualification of PS Business Parks, Inc. (“PSB”) through the end of its taxable year ended December 31, 2022, as a result of our substantial ownership interest in it prior to the closing of the PSB merger with an unaffiliated third party. We believe we have qualified as a REIT and we intend to continue to maintain our REIT status.
However, there can be no assurance that we qualify or will continue to qualify as a REIT, because of the highly technical nature of the REIT rules, the ongoing importance of factual determinations, the possibility of unidentified issues in prior periods, or changes in our circumstances, as well as share ownership limits in our declaration of trust that may fail to ensure that our shareholder base is sufficiently diverse for us to qualify as a REIT. For any year we fail to qualify as a REIT, unless certain relief provisions apply (the granting of such relief could nonetheless result in significant excise or penalty taxes), we would not be allowed a deduction for dividends paid, we would be subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on our taxable income, and generally we would not be allowed to elect REIT status until the fifth year after such a disqualification. In addition, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022, we could also be subject to certain taxes enacted by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that are applicable to non-REIT corporations, including the corporate alternative minimum tax and nondeductible one percent excise tax on certain stock repurchases. Any taxes, interest, and penalties incurred would reduce our cash available for distributions to shareholders and could negatively affect our stock price. However, for years in which we failed to qualify as a REIT, we would not be subject to REIT rules that require us to distribute substantially all of our taxable income to our shareholders.
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Dividends payable by REITs do not qualify for the preferential tax rates available for some dividends.
Dividends payable by REITs may be taxed at higher rates than dividends of non-REIT corporations. The maximum U.S. federal income tax rate for qualified dividends paid by domestic non-REIT corporations to U.S. stockholders that are individuals, trusts, or estates is generally 20%. Dividends paid by REITs to such stockholders are generally not eligible for that rate, but under current tax law, such stockholders may deduct up to 20% of ordinary dividends (i.e., dividends not designated as capital gain dividends or qualified dividend income) received from a REIT for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2026. Although this deduction reduces the effective tax rate applicable to certain dividends paid by REITs, such tax rate may still be higher than the tax rate applicable to regular corporate qualified dividends. This may cause investors to view REIT investments as less attractive than investments in non-REIT corporations, which in turn may adversely affect the value of the stock of REITs, including our stock.
We may pay some taxes, reducing cash available for shareholders.
Even if we qualify as a REIT for U.S. federal corporate income tax purposes, we may be subject to some federal, foreign, state, and local taxes on our income and property. Certain consolidated corporate subsidiaries of the Company have elected to be treated as taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRSs”) for U.S. federal corporate income tax purposes and are taxable as regular corporations and subject to certain limitations on intercompany transactions. If tax authorities determine that amounts paid by our TRSs to us are not reasonable compared to similar arrangements among unrelated parties, we could be subject to a 100% penalty tax on the excess payments, and ongoing intercompany arrangements could have to change, resulting in higher ongoing tax payments. To the extent the Company is required to pay federal, foreign, state, or local taxes, or federal penalty taxes due to existing laws or changes thereto, we will have less cash available for distribution to shareholders.
In addition, certain local and state governments have imposed taxes on self-storage rent. While in most cases those taxes are paid by our customers, they increase the cost of self-storage rental to our customers and can negatively impact our revenues. Other local and state governments may impose self-storage rent taxes in the future.
If PSA OP were to fail to maintain its status as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, our financial results would be adversely impacted.
We believe PSA OP qualifies as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a partnership, PSA OP is generally not subject to U.S. federal income tax on its income. Instead, each of the partners is allocated its share of PSA OP’s income. There is no assurance, however, that the IRS will not challenge the status of PSA OP as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If the IRS were to successfully challenge the status of PSA OP as a partnership, it would be taxable as a corporation. In such event, this would reduce the amount of distributions that PSA OP could make. The treatment of PSA OP as a corporation would also cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT. This would substantially reduce our cash available to pay distributions and the return on a shareholder's investment.
Changes in tax laws could negatively impact us.
The United States Treasury Department and Congress frequently review federal income tax legislation, regulations and other guidance. We cannot predict whether, when, or to what extent new federal tax laws, regulations, interpretations or rulings will be adopted, but these changes might include, in particular, increases in the U.S. federal income tax rates that apply to us or our shareholders in certain circumstances, possibly with retroactive effect.
We have exposure to increased property tax in California.
Approximately $830.4 million of our 2024 net operating income is from our properties in California, and we incurred approximately $47.8 million in related property tax expense. Due to the impact of Proposition 13, which generally limits increases in assessed values to 2% per year, the assessed value and resulting property tax we pay is less than it would be if the properties were assessed at current estimated market values. From time to time, proposals have been made to reduce the beneficial impact of Proposition 13, most recently in the November 2020 ballot. While this ballot initiative failed, there can be no assurance that future initiatives or other legislative actions will not eliminate or reduce the benefit of Proposition 13 with respect to our properties. If the beneficial effect of Proposition 13 were ended for our properties, our property tax expense could increase substantially, adversely affecting our cash flow from operations and net income.
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We are subject to extensive laws and regulations and to frequent changes in such laws and regulations.
We are subject to extensive laws and regulations, and to frequent changes in such laws and regulations, at the city, county, state, and federal level. These laws and regulations include (i) laws and regulations related to access to our self-storage facilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ii) laws and regulations related to taxes, including property taxes, income taxes, and REIT status compliance, (iii) labor and employment laws and regulations, (iv) consumer protection laws and regulations, including those related to lien sales, (v) state and local business licensing laws and regulations, (vi) zoning laws and regulations, (vii) privacy laws and regulations, including the California Privacy Rights Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act, and (viii) securities laws. Compliance with these laws and regulations, including changes thereto, have imposed significant costs and could in the future impose greater costs or require adverse changes to our business and operations. Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations may subject us to increased litigation and regulatory actions and negatively affect our business and operations or reputation.
Our tenant reinsurance business is subject to governmental regulation, which could reduce our profitability or limit our growth.
We hold limited lines self-service storage insurance agent licenses from a number of individual state departments of insurance and are subject to state governmental regulation and supervision. Our continued ability to maintain these limited lines self-service storage insurance agent licenses in the jurisdictions in which we are licensed depends on our compliance with related rules and regulations. The regulatory authorities in each jurisdiction generally have broad discretion to grant, renew, and revoke licenses and approvals, to promulgate, interpret, and implement regulations, and to evaluate compliance with regulations through periodic examinations, audits, and investigations of the affairs of insurance agents. As a result of regulatory or private action in any jurisdiction, we may be temporarily or permanently suspended from continuing some or all of our reinsurance activities, or otherwise fined, penalized, or subject to an adverse judgment, which could reduce our net income.
In the event that we recognize a significant gain from cash settlement of a forward sale agreement, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the cash that we receive in such instance is unclear and could impact our ability to meet the REIT qualification requirements.
We may enter into forward sale agreements from time to time and, subject to certain conditions, we have the right to elect physical, cash or net share settlement under these agreements at any time and from time to time, in part or in full. In the event that we elect to settle a forward sale agreement for cash and the settlement price is below the forward sale price, we would be entitled to receive a cash payment from the applicable forward purchaser(s). Under Section 1032 of the Code, generally, no gains and losses are recognized by a corporation in dealing in its own shares, including pursuant to a “securities futures contract,” as defined in the Code by reference to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Although we believe that any amount received by us in exchange for our common shares would qualify for the exemption under Section 1032 of the Code, because it is not entirely clear whether a forward sale agreement qualifies as a “securities futures contract,” the U.S. federal income tax treatment of any cash settlement payment we receive is uncertain. In the event that we recognize a significant gain from the cash settlement of a forward sale agreement, we might not be able to satisfy the gross income requirements applicable to REITs under the Code. If we were to fail to satisfy one or both of the gross income tests for any taxable year, we may nevertheless qualify as a REIT for such year if we were entitled to relief under certain provisions of the Code. If these relief provisions were inapplicable, we would not qualify to be taxed as a REIT.
International trade disputes, including U.S. trade tariffs and retaliatory tariffs, could adversely impact our business.
International trade disputes, including threatened or implemented tariffs imposed by the U.S. and threatened or implemented tariffs imposed by foreign countries in retaliation, could result in inflationary pressures that directly impact our costs, such as costs for steel, lumber and other materials applicable to our development and redevelopment projects. Trade disputes could also adversely impact global supply chains which could further increase costs for us or delay delivery of key inventories and supplies. Tariffs and trade restrictions can be announced with little or no advance notice, and we may not be able to effectively mitigate all adverse impacts from such measures. If we are not able to navigate these changes, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.
ITEM 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
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ITEM 1C.Cybersecurity
Public Storage devotes significant resources to protecting and continuing to improve the security of its computer systems, software, networks, and other technology assets. Our security efforts are designed to preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and continued availability of information owned by, or in the care of, the Company and protect against, among other things, cybersecurity attacks by unauthorized parties attempting to obtain access to confidential information, destroy data, disrupt or degrade service, sabotage systems, or cause other damage.
Management and Board Oversight
Our risk management processes include a comprehensive enterprise risk management framework focused on (i) evaluating the risks facing the Company and aligning the Company’s efforts to mitigate those risks with its strategy and risk appetite; (ii) communicating and improving the Company’s understanding of its key risks and responsive actions; and (iii) providing the Board with a defined, rated risk inventory and framework against which the Board can direct its responsibilities to oversee the Company’s risk assessment and risk management efforts. Our cybersecurity program is a key component of our overall enterprise risk management framework.
A dedicated team of technology professionals monitors and manages cybersecurity risks. They are led by our Chief Technology Officer (CTO), who has significant experience in senior leadership positions with responsibility for cybersecurity and IT risk management, and our Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), who is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). Their teams are responsible for leading enterprise-wide cyber resilience strategy, policy, standards, architecture, and processes. Our CTO and CISO regularly engage with our Chief Administrative Officer. They also report monthly on cybersecurity matters to our entire executive management team.
In the event of an incident that jeopardizes the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the information technology systems we use, we utilize a regularly updated information security incident response plan (IRP). The IRP is overseen by our executive Incident Response Committee (IRC), which consists of our Chief Financial and Investment Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Legal Officer, and CTO. The IRP guides our internal response to cybersecurity incidents.
Pursuant to our IRP and its escalation protocols, designated personnel are responsible for assessing the severity of the incident and associated threat, containing the threat, remediating the threat, including recovery of data and access to systems, analyzing the reporting obligations associated with the incident, and performing post-incident analysis and program improvements. While the particular personnel assigned to an incident response team will depend on the particular facts and circumstances, the response team is generally led by the IRC with support from internal personnel and external counsel or other experts.
Our Board considers cybersecurity risk one of the most significant risks to our business. The Board has delegated to the Audit Committee oversight of cybersecurity, data privacy, and other information technology risks affecting the Company. Our CTO and CISO typically provide quarterly reports to the Audit Committee, which also provides quarterly reports on its activities to the Board. Annually, the Board receives a comprehensive update regarding the Company’s cybersecurity efforts, which may include a cybersecurity tabletop exercise, presentation by third party cybersecurity experts, or similar events. Several members of our Board and Audit Committee have cybersecurity, data privacy, or related experience from their principal occupation or other professional experience.
Processes for Assessing, Identifying and Managing Material Risks from Cybersecurity Threats
Our cybersecurity program focuses on (i) preventing and preparing for cybersecurity incidents, (ii) detecting and analyzing cybersecurity incidents, and (iii) containing, eradicating, recovering from, and reporting cybersecurity events.
Prevention and Preparation
We identify and address information security risks by employing a defense-in-depth methodology, consisting of both proactive and reactive elements, which provides multiple, redundant defensive measures and prescribes actions to take in case a security control fails or a vulnerability is exploited. We leverage internal resources, along with strategic external partnerships, to mitigate cybersecurity threats to the Company. We have partnerships for security operations center (SOC) services, penetration testing, incident response, and various third-party assessments. We deploy both commercially available solutions and proprietary systems to actively manage threats to our information technology environment.
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We assess our cybersecurity program against various frameworks. Our information security program is certified for compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard for the safe handling and protection of credit card data. Annually, we are assessed, either internally or by an independent third party, against the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 Moderate Baseline. We also utilize reports prepared by our external partners to assess our cyber proficiency on a standalone basis and comparatively against peers and other companies, and we regularly engage external resources regarding emerging threats. We have policies and procedures to oversee and identify the cybersecurity risks associated with our use of third-party service providers, including contractual mechanisms, as well as the regular review of SOC reports, relevant cyber attestations, and other independent cyber ratings.
We employ an information security and training program for our employees, including annual mandatory computer-based training, regular internal communications, and ongoing end-user testing to measure the effectiveness of our information security program. As part of this commitment, we require our employees to complete a Cybersecurity Awareness eCourse and acknowledge our Information Security policy each year. In addition, we have an established schedule and process for regular phishing awareness campaigns that are designed to imitate real-world contemporary threats and provide immediate feedback (and, if necessary, additional training or remedial action) to employees.
As discussed above, we maintain an IRP that guides our response to a cybersecurity incident. Annually, we test the IRP’s response procedures, including thorough disaster response and business continuity plan exercises. These exercises are intended to challenge and validate our information security response and resources through simulated cybersecurity incidents, including engagement of outside cybersecurity legal counsel, other third-party partners, key internal personnel, executive management, and our Board.
Detection and Analysis
Cybersecurity incidents may be detected through a variety of means, which may include, but are not limited to, automated event-detection notifications, employee notifications, notification from external parties (e.g., our third-party information technology provider), and proactive threat hunting in conjunction with our external partners. Once a potential cybersecurity incident is identified, including a third-party cybersecurity event, the incident response team designated pursuant to the IRP follows the procedures set forth in the plan to investigate the potential incident, including determining the nature of the event.
Containment, Eradication, Recovery, and Reporting
Our IRP sets forth the procedures we follow in responding to a cybersecurity incidents. Once a cybersecurity incident is contained, our focus shifts to remediation and recovery. These activities depend on the nature of the cybersecurity incident and may include rebuilding systems and/or hosts, replacing compromised files with clean versions and validation of files or data that may have been affected. We also maintain cybersecurity insurance providing coverage for certain costs related to security failures and specified cybersecurity-related incidents that interrupt our network or networks of our vendors, in all cases up to specified limits and subject to certain exclusions.
Our IRP provides clear communication protocols, including with respect to members of executive management, internal and external counsel, the Audit Committee and our Board. These protocols include a framework for assessing our SEC and other regulatory reporting obligations related to a cybersecurity incident.
Following the conclusion of an incident, the incident response team will generally assess the effectiveness of the cybersecurity program and IRP and make adjustments as appropriate.
Cybersecurity Risks
As of December 31, 2024, we have not had any known instances of material cybersecurity incidents, including known third-party provider incidents. However, there can be no assurance that our security efforts and measures, and those of our third-party providers, will be effective or that attempted security incidents or disruptions would not be successful or damaging. See “Item 1A–Risk Factors–If our confidential information is compromised or corrupted, including as a result of a cybersecurity incident, our reputation and business relationships could be damaged, which could adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.”
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ITEM 2. Properties
At December 31, 2024, we had controlling ownership interests in 3,073 self-storage facilities located in 40 states within the U.S.:
Number of Storage Facilities Net Rentable Square Feet(in thousands)
(a)See Schedule III: Real Estate and Accumulated Depreciation in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for a summary of land, building, accumulated depreciation, square footage, and number of properties by market.
At December 31, 2024, two of our facilities with a net book value of $11.2 million were encumbered by an aggregate of $1.7 million in mortgage notes payable.
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The configuration of self-storage facilities has evolved over time. The oldest facilities are comprised generally of multiple single-story buildings, and have on average approximately 500 primarily “drive up” spaces per facility, and a small rental office. The most prevalent recently constructed facilities have higher density footprints with large, multi-story buildings with climate control and typically 1,000 or more self-storage spaces, a more imposing and visible retail presence, and a prominent and large rental office designed to appeal to customers as an attractive and retail-focused “store.” Our self-storage portfolio includes facilities with characteristics of the oldest facilities, characteristics of the most recently constructed facilities, and those with characteristics of both older and recently constructed facilities. Most spaces have between 25 and 400 square feet and an interior height of approximately eight to 12 feet.
ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings
For a description of the Company’s legal proceedings, see “Note 14. Commitments and Contingencies” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
ITEM 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our common shares of beneficial interest (NYSE: PSA) have been listed on the NYSE since October 19, 1984. As of February 18, 2025, there were approximately 9,093 holders of record of our common shares.
In May 2008, our Board authorized a share repurchase program of up to 35,000,000 of our common shares on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Our common share repurchase program does not have an expiration date and there are 10,551,219 common shares that may yet be repurchased under our repurchase program as of December 31, 2024. Under the repurchase program, management may repurchase our common shares on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. During the three months ended December 31, 2024, we did not repurchase any of our common shares. From the inception of the repurchase program through February 24, 2025, we have repurchased a total of 24,448,781 common shares at an aggregate cost of approximately $879.1 million. The timing, manner, price and amount of any future common share repurchases will be dependent upon a number of factors, including our available capital, investment alternatives, economic conditions, applicable legal requirements, and the trading price of our common shares.
Refer to Item 12. “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters” for information about our equity compensation plans.
ITEM 6. [Reserved]
ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of consolidated financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires us to make judgments, assumptions, and estimates that affect the amounts reported. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions are based on current facts, historical experience, and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances to determine reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources.
We believe the following are our critical accounting estimates, because they are reasonably likely to have a material impact on the portrayal of our financial condition and results, and they require us to make judgments and estimates about matters that involve a significant level of uncertainty.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets: The analysis of impairment of our long-lived assets, including our real estate facilities, involves identification of indicators of impairment, including unfavorable operational results and significant cost overruns on construction, projections of future operating cash flows, and estimates of fair values, all of which require significant judgment and subjectivity. In particular, these estimates are sensitive to significant assumptions, such as the projections of future rental rates, stabilized occupancy level, future profit margin, discount rates, and capitalization rates, all of which could be affected by our expectations about future market or economic conditions. Others could come to materially different conclusions.
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Allocating Purchase Price for Acquired Real Estate Facilities: We estimate the fair values of the assets and liabilities of acquired real estate facilities, which consist principally of land, buildings and acquired customers in place, for purposes of allocating the aggregate purchase price of acquired real estate facilities. We estimate the fair value of land based upon price per square foot derived from observable transactions involving comparable land in similar locations as adjusted for location quality, parcel size, and date of sale associated with the acquired facilities. The fair value estimate of land is sensitive to the adjustments made to the land market transactions used in the estimate, particularly when there is a lack of recent comparable land market data. We estimate the fair value of buildings primarily using the income approach by estimating the fair value of hypothetical vacant acquired facilities and adjusting for the estimated fair value of land. The fair value estimate of buildings is sensitive to assumptions, such as lease-up period, future stabilized operating cash flows, capitalization rate and discount rate. We estimate the fair value of acquired customers in place using the income approach by estimating the foregone rent over the presumed period of time to absorb the occupied spaces as if they were vacant at the time of acquisition. The fair value estimate of the acquired customers in place is sensitive to the assumptions used in the income approach, such as market rent, lease-up period and discount rate. Others could come to materially different conclusions as to the estimated fair values of land, buildings and acquired customers in place, which would result in different depreciation and amortization expense, gains and losses on sale of real estate assets, as well as the level of land and buildings on our consolidated balance sheet.
Overview
Our self-storage operations generate most of our net income, and our earnings growth is impacted by the levels of organic growth within our Same Store Facilities (as defined below) as well as within our Acquired Facilities and Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities (both as defined below).
During 2024, revenues generated by our Same Store Facilities decreased by 0.7% ($26.7 million), as compared to 2023, while Same Store cost of operations increased by 2.4% ($20.6 million). Softness in demand for our storage space has led to lower move-in rental rates for new tenants and lower average occupancy in 2024 as compared to 2023.
We have grown and plan to continue to grow through the acquisition and development of new facilities and expansion of our existing self-storage facilities. Since the beginning of 2022, we acquired a total of 260 facilities with 18.5 million net rentable square feet for $3.7 billion. Additionally, within our non-same store portfolio, our Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities (as defined below) include a total of 132 self-storage facilities with 15.8 million net rentable square feet. For development and expansions completed by December 31, 2024, we incurred a total cost of $1.6 billion. During 2024, combined net operating income generated by our Acquired Facilities and Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities increased 48.1% ($101.0 million), as compared to 2023.
We have experienced recent inflationary impacts on our cost of operations including labor, utilities, and repairs and maintenance, and costs of development and expansion activities, and we expect to experience such impacts in the future. We have implemented various initiatives to manage the adverse impacts, such as enhancements in operational processes and investments in technology to reduce payroll hours, achievement of economies of scale from recent acquisitions with supervisory payroll and centralized management costs allocated over a broader number of self-storage facilities, and investments in solar power and LED lights to lower utility usage.
In order to enhance the competitive position of certain of our facilities relative to local competitors (including newly developed facilities), we embarked on our multi-year Property of Tomorrow program to (i) rebrand our properties with more pronounced, attractive, and clearly identifiable color schemes and signage and (ii) upgrade the configuration and layout of the offices and other customer zones to improve the customer experience. We completed the program in 2024. We spent approximately $127 million on the program in 2024. We have also embarked on a solar program under which we plan to install solar panels on over 1,400 of our self-storage facilities. We have completed the installations on 772 facilities through December 31, 2024. We spent approximately $54 million on the program in 2024 and expect to spend approximately $50 million in 2025 on this effort.
During 2024, PSOC completed a public offering of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of unsecured senior notes in various tranches and maturities and issued €150 million of senior notes to institutional investors. PSOC also repaid at maturity $700 million aggregate principal amount of floating rate senior notes and €100 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes.
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During 2024, we repurchased 726,865 of our common shares under our previously announced share repurchase program on the open market for a total cost of $200.0 million, driven by our expected improvement in operating fundamentals and growth.
During 2024, we sold 184,390 of our common shares on the open market through our “at the market” offering program for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $60.3 million in cash.
In early 2025, multiple wildfires erupted in southern California and caused significant destruction of business and residential structures. We did not incur any direct property damage in the affected areas. In response to the devastation, a “State of Emergency” has been declared for Los Angeles County and Ventura County, under which a temporary governmental pricing limitation is in place for our self-storage facilities located in these counties. These self-storage facilities generated approximately 10% of revenues earned by our Same Store Facilities in 2024. We anticipate a potentially significant negative impact on the revenue growth from these self-storage facilities, the extent of which depends largely on the duration of the State of Emergency order and other future actions by government authorities, among other factors.
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Results of Operations
Operating Results for 2024 and 2023
In 2024, net income allocable to our common shareholders was $1.873 billion or $10.64 per diluted common share, compared to $1.949 billion or $11.06 per diluted common share in 2023, representing a decrease of $76.1 million or $0.42 per diluted common share. The decrease is due primarily to (i) a $159.7 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense, (ii) an $86.3 million increase in interest expense, (iii) a $26.0 million increase in general and administrative expense, (iv) an $18.4 million decrease in interest and other income, partially offset by (v) a $153.4 million increase in foreign currency exchange gains primarily associated with our Euro denominated notes payable and (vi) a $61.6 million increase in self-storage net operating income.
The $61.6 million increase in self-storage net operating income in 2024 as compared to 2023 is a result of a $108.9 million increase attributable to our Non-Same Store Facilities (as defined below), partially offset by a $47.3 million decrease attributable to our Same Store Facilities. Revenues for the Same Store Facilities decreased 0.7% or $26.7 million in 2024 as compared to 2023, due primarily to a decline in occupancy and lower realized annual rent per occupied square foot. Cost of operations for the Same Store Facilities increased by 2.4% or $20.6 million in 2024 as compared to 2023, due primarily to increased property tax expense, marketing expense, and repairs and maintenance expense, partially offset by decreased centralized management costs and on-site property manager payroll expense. The increase in net operating income of $108.9 million for the Non-Same Store Facilities is due primarily to the impact of facilities acquired in 2023.
Operating Results for 2023 and 2022
In 2023, net income allocable to our common shareholders was $1.949 billion or $11.06 per diluted common share, compared to $4.142 billion or $23.50 per diluted common share in 2022, representing a decrease of $2.2 billion or $12.44 per diluted common share. The decrease is due primarily to (i) a $2.1 billion gain on sale of our equity investment in PS Business Parks, Inc. (“PSB”) in July 2022, (ii) a $149.5 million increase in foreign currency exchange losses primarily associated with our Euro denominated notes payable, (iii) a $79.1 million decrease in equity in earnings of unconsolidated real estate entities due to our sale of PSB in July 2022, and (iv) a $64.8 million increase in interest expense, partially offset by (v) a $231.8 million increase in self-storage net operating income and (vi) a $45.0 million increase in interest and other income.
The $231.8 million increase in self-storage net operating income in 2023 as compared to 2022 is a result of a $131.8 million increase in our Same Store Facilities and a $100.0 million increase in our Non-Same Store Facilities. Revenues for the Same Store Facilities increased 4.8% or $170.2 million in 2023 as compared to 2022, due primarily to higher realized annual rent per available square foot, partially offset by a decline in occupancy. Cost of operations for the Same Store Facilities increased by 4.6% or $38.4 million in 2023 as compared to 2022, due primarily to increased property tax expense, marketing expense and other direct property costs. The increase in net operating income of $100.0 million for the Non-Same Store Facilities is due primarily to the impact of facilities acquired in 2022 and 2023.
Funds from Operations and Core Funds from Operations
Funds from Operations (“FFO”) and FFO per diluted common share (“FFO per share”) are non-GAAP measures defined by Nareit. We believe that FFO and FFO per share are useful to REIT investors and analysts in measuring our performance because Nareit’s definition of FFO excludes items included in net income that do not relate to or are not indicative of our operating and financial performance. FFO represents net income before real estate-related depreciation and amortization, which is excluded because it is based upon historical costs and assumes that building values diminish ratably over time, while we believe that real estate values fluctuate due to market conditions. FFO also excludes gains or losses on sale of real estate assets and real estate impairment charges, which are also based upon historical costs and are impacted by historical depreciation. FFO and FFO per share are not a substitute for net income or earnings per share. FFO is not a substitute for net cash flow in evaluating our liquidity or ability to pay dividends, because it excludes investing and financing activities presented on our consolidated statements of cash flows. In addition, other REITs may compute these measures differently, so comparisons among REITs may not be helpful.
For the year ended December 31, 2024, FFO was $17.19 per diluted common share as compared to $16.60 and $16.46 per diluted common share for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, representing an increase in 2024 of 3.6%, or $0.59 per diluted common share, as compared to 2023.
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We also present “Core FFO” and “Core FFO per share” non-GAAP measures that represent FFO and FFO per share excluding the impact of (i) foreign currency exchange gains and losses, (ii) charges related to the redemption of preferred securities, and (iii) certain other non-cash and/or nonrecurring income or expense items primarily representing, with respect to the periods presented below, the impact of loss contingencies and resolutions, casualties, due diligence costs incurred in pursuit of strategic transactions, unrealized gain on private equity investments, reorganization costs, acquisition integration costs, amortization of acquired non real estate-related intangibles, a cash and stock hiring bonus for a new senior executive, and our equity share of tax effect of a change in tax status, unrealized gain on derivatives, merger transaction costs and senior executive severance from our equity investees. We review Core FFO and Core FFO per share to evaluate our ongoing operating performance and we believe they are used by investors and REIT analysts in a similar manner. However, Core FFO and Core FFO per share are not substitutes for net income and net income per share. Because other REITs may not compute Core FFO or Core FFO per share in the same manner as we do, may not use the same terminology or may not present such measures, Core FFO and Core FFO per share may not be comparable among REITs.
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The following table reconciles net income to FFO and Core FFO and reconciles diluted earnings per share to FFO per share and Core FFO per share:
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
(Amounts in thousands, except per share data)
Reconciliation of Net Income to FFO and Core FFO:
Eliminate items excluded from FFO:
Gain on sale of equity investment in PS Business Parks, Inc. — — — (2,116,839)
Hiring bonus for a new senior executive 3,507 — — —
Eliminate amounts per share excluded from FFO:
Real estate-related depreciation and amortization 6.56 5.64 5.64 5.27
Gain on sale of equity investment in PS Business Parks, Inc. — — — (12.00)
Foreign currency exchange (gain) loss (0.58) 0.29 0.29 (0.57)
Unrealized gain on private equity investments (0.02) (0.02) (0.02) (0.03)
Hiring bonus for a new senior executive 0.02 — — —
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Analysis of Net Income — Self-Storage Operations
Our self-storage operations are analyzed in four groups: (i) the 2,507 facilities that we have owned and operated on a stabilized basis since January 1, 2022 (the “Same Store Facilities”), (ii) 260 facilities we acquired since January 1, 2022 (the “Acquired Facilities”), (iii) 132 facilities that have been newly developed or expanded, or that had commenced expansion by December 31, 2024 (the “Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities”), and (iv) 174 other facilities, which are otherwise not stabilized with respect to occupancies or rental rates since January 1, 2022 (the “Other Non-Same Store Facilities”). The Acquired Facilities, Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities, and Other Non-Same Store Facilities are collectively referred to as the Non-Same Store Facilities. See Note 13 to our December 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements “Segment Information,” for a reconciliation of the amounts in the tables below to our total net income.
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Self-Storage Operations
Summary Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
(Dollar amounts and square footage in thousands)
Revenues:
Cost of operations:
Net operating income (a):
Depreciation and amortization expense:
Net income (loss):
Number of facilities at period end:
Net rentable square footage at period end:
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(a)Net operating income or “NOI” is a non-GAAP financial measure that excludes the impact of depreciation and amortization expense, which is based upon historical real estate costs and assumes that building values diminish ratably over time, while we believe that real estate values fluctuate due to market conditions. We utilize NOI in determining current property values, evaluating property performance, and evaluating property operating trends. We believe that investors and analysts utilize NOI in a similar manner. NOI is not a substitute for net income, operating cash flow, or other related financial measures, in evaluating our operating results. See Note 13 to our December 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements for a reconciliation of NOI to our total net income for all periods presented.
Same Store Facilities
The Same Store Facilities consist of facilities we have owned and operated on a stabilized level of occupancy, revenues, and cost of operations since January 1, 2022. The composition of our Same Store Facilities allows us more effectively to evaluate the ongoing performance of our self-storage portfolio in 2022, 2023, and 2024 and exclude the impact of fill-up of unstabilized facilities, which can significantly affect operating trends. We believe investors and analysts use Same Store Facilities information in a similar manner. However, because other REITs may not compute Same Store Facilities in the same manner as we do, may not use the same terminology or may not present such a measure, Same Store Facilities may not be comparable among REITs.
The following table summarizes the historical operating results (for all periods presented) of these 2,507 facilities (170.0 million net rentable square feet) that represent approximately 77% of the aggregate net rentable square feet of our U.S. consolidated self-storage portfolio at December 31, 2024. It includes various measures and detail that we do not include in the analysis of the developed, acquired, and other non-same store facilities, due to the relative magnitude and importance of the Same Store Facilities relative to our other self-storage facilities.
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Selected Operating Data for the Same Store Facilities (2,507 facilities)
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
(Dollar amounts in thousands, except for per square foot data)
Revenues (a):
Direct cost of operations (a):
Indirect cost of operations (a):
Weighted average for the period:
Realized annual rental income per (c):
At December 31:
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(a)Revenues and cost of operations do not include tenant reinsurance and merchandise sale revenues and expenses generated at the facilities. See “Ancillary Operations” below for more information.
(b)Direct net operating income (“Direct NOI”), a subtotal within NOI, is a non-GAAP financial measure that excludes the impact of supervisory payroll, centralized management costs, and share-based compensation in addition to depreciation and amortization expense. We utilize direct net operating income in evaluating property performance and in evaluating property operating trends as compared to our competitors.
(c)Realized annual rent per occupied square foot is computed by dividing rental income, before late charges and administrative fees, by the weighted average occupied square feet for the period. Realized annual rent per available square foot (“REVPAF”) is computed by dividing rental income, before late charges and administrative fees, by the total available net rentable square feet for the period. These measures exclude late charges and administrative fees in order to provide a better measure of our ongoing level of revenue. Late charges are dependent upon the level of delinquency, and administrative fees are dependent upon the level of move-ins. In addition, the rates charged for late charges and administrative fees can vary independently from rental rates. These measures take into consideration promotional discounts, which reduce rental income.
(d)Annual contract rent represents the agreed upon monthly rate that is paid by our tenants in place at the time of measurement. Contract rates are initially set in the lease agreement upon move-in, and we adjust them from time to time with notice. Contract rent excludes other fees that are charged on a per-item basis, such as late charges and administrative fees, does not reflect the impact of promotional discounts, and does not reflect the impact of rents that are written off as uncollectible.
(e)Represents the absolute nominal change with respect to gross margin and square foot occupancy, and the percentage change with respect to all other items.
Analysis of Same Store Revenue
We believe a balanced occupancy and rate strategy maximizes our revenues over time. We regularly adjust rental rates and promotional discounts offered (generally, “$1.00 rent for the first month”), as well as our marketing efforts to maximize revenue from new tenants to replace tenants that vacate.
We typically increase rental rates to our long-term tenants (generally, those who have been with us for at least six months) every six to twelve months. As a result, the number of long-term tenants we have in our facilities is an important factor in our revenue growth. The level of rate increases to long-term tenants is based upon evaluating the additional revenue from the increase against the negative impact of incremental move-outs, by considering customers’ in-place rent and prevailing market rents, among other factors.
Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2024 to the Year Ended December 31, 2023
Revenues generated by our Same Store Facilities decreased 0.7% in 2024 as compared to 2023, due primarily to a 0.6% decrease in average occupancy and a 0.1% decrease in realized annual rent per occupied square foot.
The decrease in realized annual rent per occupied square foot in 2024 as compared to 2023 was due to a 11.6% decrease in average rates per square foot charged to new tenants moving in over the past twelve months, partially offset by cumulative rate increases to existing long-term tenants over the same period. At December 31, 2024, annual contract rent per occupied square foot was 0.4% higher as compared to December 31, 2023.
The weighted average square foot occupancy for our Same Store Facilities was 92.4% for 2024, representing a decrease of 0.6%, as compared to 2023. Occupancy levels have gradually declined since the second half of 2022 as customer demand softened. In response, we lowered move-in rental rates and increased advertising spending to stimulate move-in activity at our facilities in 2024 as compared to 2023.
Move-out activities from our tenants were lower in 2024 as compared to 2023. More than half of our tenants have rented their space for longer than six months at December 31, 2024, which supported our revenue growth from existing long-term tenants.
Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2023 to the Year Ended December 31, 2022
Revenues generated by our Same Store Facilities increased 4.8% in 2023 as compared to 2022, due primarily to a 6.4% increase in realized annual rent per occupied square foot, partially offset by a 1.6% decrease in average occupancy.
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The increase in realized annual rent per occupied square foot in 2023 as compared to 2022 was due to cumulative rate increases to existing long-term tenants over the past twelve months, partially offset by a 13.9% decrease in average rates per square foot charged to new tenants moving in who replaced tenants moving out with higher rental rates. At December 31, 2023, annual contract rent per occupied square foot was 0.8% higher as compared to December 31, 2022.
The weighted average square foot occupancy for our Same Store Facilities was 93.0% for 2023, representing a decrease of 1.6%, as compared to 2022. Occupancy levels have gradually declined since the second half of 2022. In response we lowered move-in rental rates and increased promotional activity and advertising spending to increase move-in activity at our facilities in 2023 as compared to 2022.
Move-out activities from our tenants were higher in 2023 as compared to 2022. Average length of stay of our tenants remained at similar high levels in 2023 as compared to 2022, which supported our revenue growth from existing long-term tenants.
Selected Key Move-in and Move-Out Statistical Data
The following table sets forth average annual contract rent per square foot and total square footage for tenants moving in and moving out during the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022. Contract rents gained from move-ins and contracts rents lost from move-outs included in the table assume move-in and move-out activities occur at the beginning of each period presented. The table also includes promotional discounts, which vary based upon the move-in contractual rates, move-in volume, and percentage of tenants moving in who receive the discount.
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
(Amounts in thousands, except for per square foot amounts)
Tenants moving in during the period:
Tenants moving out during the period:
Industry-wide demand was weaker in 2024 compared to 2023 partially due to lower home-moving activities offset by increases in customers who sought storage space for other reasons. Demand fluctuates due to various local and regional factors, including the overall economy, as well as new supply of self-storage space and alternatives to self-storage.
We expect industry-wide demand from new customers in 2025 to be similar to 2024. However, following the recent wildfires in southern California in early 2025, we anticipate a potentially significant negative impact on the revenue growth from the self-storage facilities located in Los Angeles County and Ventura County, where a temporary governmental pricing limitation is in place under the “State of Emergency” declarations. These self-storage facilities generated approximately 10% of revenues earned by our Same Store Facilities in 2024. As a result, we expect Same Store Facilities revenues in 2025 to be similar to those earned in 2024.
Late Charges and Administrative Fees
Late charges and administrative fees increased 0.6% and 10.3% in 2024 and 2023, respectively, in each case as compared to the previous year. The increase in 2024 was due primarily to higher late charges and lien fees collected on delinquent accounts. The increase in 2023 was due to higher late charges collected on delinquent accounts and higher administrative fees resulting from higher move-in volumes. Delinquency rates remained at similar levels for 2024 as compared to 2023.
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Analysis of Same Store Cost of Operations
Cost of operations (excluding depreciation and amortization) increased 2.4% and 4.6% in 2024 and 2023, respectively, in each case as compared to the previous year. The increase in 2024 was due primarily to increased property tax expense, marketing expense, and repairs and maintenance expense, partially offset by decreased centralized management costs and on-site property manager payroll expense. The increase in 2023 was due primarily to increased property tax expense, marketing expense, and other direct property costs.
Property tax expense increased 4.7% and 3.5% in 2024 and 2023, respectively, in each case as compared to the previous year, as a result of higher assessed values. We expect property tax expense to grow approximately 5% in 2025 due primarily to higher assessed values.
On-site property manager payroll expense decreased 3.4% in 2024 as compared to 2023 and increased 2.9% in 2023 as compared to 2022. The decrease in 2024 was primarily due to reduction in labor hours driven by the implementation of dynamic staffing models based on customer activity levels. The increase in 2023 was primarily due to increases in wage rates as a result of competitive labor conditions experienced in most geographical markets. We expect on-site property manager payroll expense to decrease moderately in 2025 as compared to 2024 as we continue to enhance operational processes.
Repairs and maintenance expense increased 9.0% and 6.3% in 2024 and 2023, respectively, in each case as compared to the previous year. Repairs and maintenance expense levels are dependent upon many factors such as (i) damage and equipment malfunctions, (ii) short-term local supply and demand factors for material and labor, and (iii) weather conditions, which can impact costs such as snow removal, roof repairs, and HVAC maintenance and repairs.
Our utility expense consists primarily of electricity costs, which are dependent upon energy prices and usage levels. Changes in usage levels are driven primarily by weather and temperature. Utility expense decreased 3.9% and 2.0% in 2024 and 2023, respectively, in each case as compared to the previous year, due primarily to our investment in energy saving technology such as solar power and LED lights, which generate favorable returns on investment in the form of lower utility usage. We expect a decline in utility expense in 2025 as compared to 2024 as we continue our investment in solar power.
Marketing expense includes Internet advertising we utilize through our online paid search programs, television advertising and the operating costs of our website and telephone reservation center. Internet advertising expense, comprising keyword search fees assessed on a “per click” basis, varies based upon demand for self-storage space, the quantity of people inquiring about self-storage through online search, occupancy levels, the number and aggressiveness of bidding competitors, and other factors. These factors are volatile; accordingly, Internet advertising can increase or decrease significantly in the short-term. We increased marketing expense by 13.1% and 42.9% in 2024 and 2023, respectively, in each case as compared to the previous year, primarily by utilizing a higher volume of online paid search programs to attract new tenants. We plan to continue to use internet advertising and other advertising channels to support move-in volumes in 2025.
Other direct property costs include administrative expenses specific to each self-storage facility, such as property loss, telephone and data communication lines, business license costs, bank charges related to processing the facilities’ cash receipts, tenant mailings, credit card fees, eviction costs, and the cost of operating each property’s rental office. These costs increased 3.1% in 2024 as compared to 2023 and 8.9% in 2023 as compared to 2022. The increase in 2024 was primarily due to increased property loss and restoration expenses related to fire and flooding events. The increase in 2023 was due primarily to an increase in credit card fees as a result of year-over-year increases in revenues, combined with a long-term trend of more customers paying with credit cards rather than cash, checks, or other methods of payment with lower transaction costs.
Centralized management costs represent administrative and cash compensation expenses for shared general corporate functions to the extent their efforts are devoted to self-storage operations. Such functions include information technology support, hardware, and software, as well as centralized administration of payroll, benefits, training, repairs and maintenance, customer service, pricing and marketing, operational accounting and finance, legal costs, and costs from field management executives. Centralized management costs decreased 8.0% in 2024 as compared to 2023 and decreased 5.3% in 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily driven by achievement of economies of scale from recent acquisitions with centralized management costs allocated over a broader number of self-storage facilities including non-same store facilities.
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Analysis of Market Trends
The following tables set forth selected market trends in our Same Store Facilities:
Same Store Facilities Operating Trends by Market
As of December 31, 2024 Year Ended December 31,
(a) Represents the absolute nominal change with respect to square foot occupancy, and the percentage change with respect to all other items.
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Same Store Facilities Operating Trends by Market (Continued)
Year Ended December 31,
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Same Store Facilities Operating Trends by Market (Continued)
As of December 31, 2024 Year Ended December 31,
(a) Represents the absolute nominal change with respect to square foot occupancy, and the percentage change with respect to all other items.
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Same Store Facilities Operating Trends by Market (Continued)
Year Ended December 31,
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Acquired Facilities
The Acquired Facilities represent 260 facilities that we acquired in 2022, 2023, and 2024. As a result of the stabilization process and timing of when these facilities were acquired, year-over-year changes can be significant. The following table summarizes operating data with respect to the Acquired Facilities:
ACQUIRED FACILITIES Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
($ amounts in thousands, except for per square foot amounts)
Revenues (b):
Cost of operations (b):
Net operating income:
At December 31:
Square foot occupancy:
2024 Acquisitions 79.0% —% —% —% —% —%
Annual contract rent per occupied square foot:
Number of facilities:
Net rentable square feet (in thousands):
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ACQUIRED FACILITIES (Continued)
Costs to acquire (in thousands):
(a)Represents the percentage change with respect to annual contract rent per occupied square foot, and the absolute nominal change with respect to all other items.
(b)Revenues and cost of operations do not include tenant reinsurance and merchandise sale revenues and expenses generated at the facilities. See “Ancillary Operations” below for more information.
(c)The amount includes the costs allocated to land, buildings and intangible assets associated with the 127 self-storage facilities from the Simply Acquisition.
We have been active in acquiring facilities in recent years. Since the beginning of 2022, we acquired a total of 260 facilities with 18.5 million net rentable square feet for $3.7 billion. During 2024, these facilities contributed net operating income of $159.7 million.
During 2023, we acquired BREIT Simply Storage LLC (“Simply”), a self-storage company that owned and operated 127 self-storage facilities (9.4 million square feet) and managed 25 self-storage facilities (1.8 million square feet) for third parties, for a purchase price of $2.2 billion in cash. Included in the acquisition results in the table above are the Simply portfolio self-storage revenues of $151.8 million, NOI of $103.9 million (including Direct NOI of $109.2 million), and average square footage occupancy of 87.7% for 2024.
We remain active in seeking to acquire additional self-storage facilities. Future acquisition volume is likely to be impacted by cost of capital and overall macro-economic uncertainties. Subsequent to December 31, 2024, we acquired or were under contract to acquire nine self-storage facilities across six states with 0.7 million net rentable square feet for $140.7 million.
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Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities
The Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities include 46 facilities that were developed on new sites since January 1, 2019, and 86 facilities expanded to increase their net rentable square footage. Of these expansions, 64 were completed before 2023, 17 were completed in 2023 or 2024, and five are currently in process at December 31, 2024. The following table summarizes operating data with respect to the Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities:
NEWLY DEVELOPED AND EXPANDED FACILITIES
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
($ amounts in thousands, except for per square foot amounts)
Revenues (b):
Cost of operations (b):
Net operating income (loss):
Developed in 2024 (5) — (5) — — —
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NEWLY DEVELOPED AND EXPANDED FACILITIES (Continued)
As of December 31, As of December 31,
($ amounts in thousands, except for per square foot amounts)
Square foot occupancy:
Developed in 2024 41.0% —% —% —% —% —%
Annual contract rent per occupied square foot:
Number of facilities:
Expansions in process 5 5 — 5 5 —
Net rentable square feet (in thousands):
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Costs to develop (in thousands):
(a)Represents the percentage change with respect to annual contract rent per occupied square foot, and the absolute nominal change with respect to all other items.
(b)Revenues and cost of operations do not include tenant reinsurance and merchandise sales generated at the facilities. See “Ancillary Operations” below for more information.
(c)These amounts only include the direct cost incurred to expand and renovate these facilities, and do not include (i) the original cost to develop or acquire the facility or (ii) the lost revenue on space demolished during the construction and fill-up period.
(d)We have completed an expansion project on a facility developed in 2021 for $12.8 million, adding 79,000 net rentable square feet of storage space as of December 31, 2024.
Our Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities includes a total of 132 self-storage facilities of 15.8 million net rentable square feet. For development and expansions completed by December 31, 2024, we incurred a total cost of $1.6 billion. During 2024, Newly Developed and Expanded Facilities contributed net operating income of $151.4 million.
It typically takes at least three to four years for a newly developed or expanded self-storage facility to stabilize with respect to revenues. Physical occupancy can be achieved as early as two to three years following completion of the development or expansion through offering lower rental rates during fill-up. As a result, even after achieving high occupancy, there can still be a period of elevated revenue growth as the tenant base matures and higher rental rates are achieved.
We believe that our development and redevelopment activities generate favorable risk-adjusted returns over the long run. However, in the short run, our earnings are diluted during the construction and stabilization period due to the cost of capital to fund the development cost, the related construction and development overhead expenses included in general and administrative expense, and the net operating loss from newly developed facilities undergoing fill-up.
We typically underwrite new developments to stabilize at approximately an 8.0% NOI yield on cost (adjusted for impacts from tenant reinsurance and maintenance capital expenditures). Our developed facilities have thus far leased up as expected and are at various stages of their revenue stabilization periods. The actual annualized yields that we may achieve on these facilities upon stabilization will depend on many factors, including local and current market conditions in the vicinity of each property and the level of new and existing supply.
The facilities under “expansions completed” represent those facilities where the expansions have been completed at December 31, 2024. We incurred a total of $895.7 million in direct cost to expand these facilities, demolished a total of 1.1 million net rentable square feet of storage space, and built a total of 6.8 million net rentable square feet of new storage space.
At December 31, 2024, we had 26 additional facilities in development, which will have a total of 2.5 million net rentable square feet of storage space and have an aggregate development cost totaling approximately $498.9 million. We expect these facilities to open over the next 18 to 24 months.
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The facilities under “expansion in process” represent those facilities where construction is in process at December 31, 2024, and together with additional future expansion activities primarily related to our Same Store Facilities at December 31, 2024, we expect to add a total of 1.5 million net rentable square feet of storage space by expanding existing self-storage facilities for an aggregate direct development cost of $242.7 million.
Other Non-Same Store Facilities
The “Other Non-Same Store Facilities” represent facilities which, while not newly acquired, developed, or expanded, are not fully stabilized since January 1, 2022, including facilities undergoing fill-up as well as facilities damaged in casualty events such as hurricanes, floods, and fires.
The Other Non-Same Store Facilities have an aggregate of 17.0 million net rentable square feet at December 31, 2024. During 2024, 2023, and 2022, the average occupancy for these facilities totaled 82.5%, 81.4%, and 81.2%, respectively, and the realized rent per occupied square foot totaled $17.17, $16.64, and $14.85, respectively.
Depreciation and amortization expense
Depreciation and amortization expense for Self-Storage Operations increased $159.7 million in 2024 as compared to 2023 and increased $81.9 million in 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to newly acquired facilities of $2.7 billion in 2023 and newly developed and expanded facilities.
The following discussion and analysis of the components of net income, including Ancillary Operations and certain items not allocated to segments, present a comparison for the year ended December 31, 2024 to the year ended December 31, 2023. The results of these components for the years ended December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022 was included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 on page 23, under Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” which was filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024.
Ancillary Operations
Ancillary revenues and expenses include amounts associated with the reinsurance of policies against losses to goods stored by tenants in our self-storage facilities, sale of merchandise at our self-storage facilities, and management of property owned by unrelated third parties. The following table sets forth our ancillary operations:
Year Ended December 31,
(Amounts in thousands)
Revenues:
Cost of operations:
Net operating income (loss):
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Tenant reinsurance operations: Tenant reinsurance premium revenue increased $23.1 million or 11.3% in 2024 over 2023, as a result of an increase in our tenant base with respect to acquired, newly developed, and expanded facilities and the third party properties we manage, as well as higher insurance participation in our tenant base at our same store facilities. Tenant reinsurance premium revenue generated from tenants at our Same-Store Facilities were $170.0 million and $163.2 million in 2024 and 2023, respectively, representing a 4.2% year over year increase in 2024.
Cost of operations primarily includes claims paid as well as claims adjustment expenses. Claims expenses vary based upon the number of insured tenants and the volume of events that drive covered customer losses, such as burglary, as well as catastrophic weather events affecting multiple properties such as hurricanes and floods. Tenant reinsurance cost of operations increased $14.3 million in 2024, as compared to 2023, primarily due to increased claim volumes and expenses related to flooding, burglary and hurricane events as well as increased access fees we paid to the third-party owners of properties we manage driven by the significant growth of our third-party property management program.
We expect tenant reinsurance operation to grow as we roll out insurance policies with increased coverage and higher premiums in 2025, and as we continue to increase the tenant base at our newly acquired and developed facilities.
Third-party property management: At December 31, 2024, in our third-party property management program, we managed 307 facilities (23.3 million net rentable square feet) for unrelated third parties, and were under contract to manage 95 additional facilities (8.4 million net rentable square feet) including 93 facilities that are currently under construction. During 2024, we added 133 facilities to the program, acquired three facilities from the program, and had 52 facilities exit the program. While we expect this business to increase in scope and size, we do not expect any significant changes in overall profitability of this business in the near term as we seek new properties to manage and are in the earlier stages of fill-up for newly managed properties.
Analysis of items not allocated to segments
Equity in earnings of unconsolidated real estate entity
We account for our equity investment in Shurgard using the equity method and record our pro-rata share of its net income. We recognized equity in earnings of Shurgard of $19.8 million and $27.9 million for 2024 and 2023, respectively. Included in our equity earnings from Shurgard were $44.2 million and $36.8 million of our share of depreciation and amortization expense for 2024 and 2023, respectively.
On August 1, 2024, Shurgard acquired Lok’nStore, a self-storage company publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, for approximately £385 million ($501 million) in cash, including direct acquisition costs.
For purposes of recording our equity in earnings from Shurgard, the Euro was translated at exchange rates of approximately 1.039 U.S. Dollars per Euro at December 31, 2024 (1.104 at December 31, 2023), and average exchange rates of 1.082 for 2024 and 1.081 for 2023.
Real estate acquisition and development expense: In 2024 and 2023, we incurred a total of $15.5 million and $26.5 million, respectively, of internal and external expenses related to our acquisition and development of real estate facilities. These amounts are net of $17.2 million and $18.0 million in 2024 and 2023, respectively, in development costs that were capitalized to newly developed and redeveloped self-storage facilities. The year-over-year decrease of real estate acquisition and development expense was primarily due to the write-off of $11.7 million of accumulated development costs for cancelled development and redevelopment projects during 2023.
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General and administrative expense: The following table sets forth our general and administrative expense:
Year Ended December 31,
(Amounts in thousands)
General and administrative expense increased $26.0 million in 2024, as compared to 2023 due primarily to (i) ) an increase in corporate management costs driven primarily by higher payroll costs and (ii) an increase in license and maintenance support costs related to our recently implemented IT applications. Additionally, in 2024 we incurred a cash and stock hiring bonus for a new senior executive of $3.5 million and recognized loss contingencies related to corporate legal matters of $3.3 million.
Interest and other income: The following table sets forth our interest and other income:
Year Ended December 31,
(Amounts in thousands)
Unrealized gain on private equity investments 4,355 2,817 1,538
Interest earned on cash balances decreased $20.2 million in 2024 over 2023, due primarily to lower average cash balances partially offset by higher interest rates earned in the first half of 2024.
Interest expense: For 2024 and 2023, we incurred $297.9 million and $210.4 million, respectively, of interest on our outstanding notes payable. In determining interest expense, these amounts were offset by capitalized interest of $10.5 million and $9.3 million during 2024 and 2023, respectively, associated with our development activities. The increase of interest expense in 2024 as compared to 2023 is due to the issuance of $2.2 billion of notes payable in July 2023 and the increase of Compounded SOFR on our variable rate unsecured notes. At December 31, 2024, we had $9.4 billion of notes payable outstanding, with a weighted average interest rate of approximately 3.1%.
Foreign currency exchange gain (loss): For 2024, we recorded foreign currency gains of $102.2 million, representing primarily the changes in the U.S. Dollar equivalent of our Euro-denominated unsecured notes due to fluctuations in exchange rates (losses of $51.2 million for 2023). The Euro was translated at exchange rates of approximately 1.039 U.S. Dollars per Euro at December 31, 2024 and 1.104 at December 31, 2023. Future gains and losses on foreign currency will be dependent upon changes in the relative value of the Euro to the U.S. Dollar and the level of Euro-denominated notes payable outstanding.
Gain on sale of real estate: In 2024, we recorded $1.5 million in gains, in connection with the sale of land parcels and the partial sale of real estate facilities pursuant to eminent domain proceedings.
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During 2023, we completed a real estate transaction with a third-party, through which we sold an operating self-storage facility with a net book value of $7.1 million for gross proceeds of $40.0 million and acquired a nearby land parcel for $13.5 million. At the close of the transaction, we entered into a leaseback of the self-storage facility until we complete development of the acquired land into a self-storage facility, no later than December 31, 2026. Of the $40.0 million in gross proceeds, $24.3 million was allocated to the sale of the property based on its estimated fair value, resulting a net gain on sale of real estate of $17.1 million after direct transaction costs, and $15.7 million was classified as a reduction of costs to develop the acquired land included in construction in process.
During 2023, we also sold a land parcel for $0.1 million in cash and recorded a related gain on sale of real estate of $0.1 million.
Income tax expense: We operate as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, we are generally not subject to U.S. federal income taxes on our taxable income distributed to stockholders. In 2024 and 2023, we recorded income tax expense totaling $4.7 million and $10.8 million, respectively, related to our taxable REIT subsidiaries and income taxes incurred in certain state and local jurisdictions in which we operate. The year-over-year changes of income tax expense was primarily driven by changes in state income tax, due to fluctuations of taxable income in certain states where there are differences between federal and state tax laws.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview and our Sources of Capital
While operating as a REIT allows us to minimize the payment of U.S. federal corporate income tax expense, we are required to distribute at least 90% of our taxable income to our shareholders. Notwithstanding this requirement, our annual operating retained cash flow was approximately $480 million in 2023 and $400 million in 2024. Retained operating cash flow represents our expected cash flow provided by operating activities (including property operating costs and interest payments described below), less shareholder distributions and capital expenditures. We expect retained cash flow of approximately $600 million for 2025.
Capital needs in excess of retained cash flow are met with: (i) medium and long-term debt, (ii) preferred equity, (iii) limited partnership interests, and (iv) common equity. We select among these sources of capital based upon relative cost, availability, the desire for leverage, and considering potential constraints caused by certain features of capital sources, such as debt covenants. We view our line of credit, as well as any short-term bank loans, as bridge financing.
Because raising capital is important to our growth, we endeavor to maintain a strong financial profile characterized by strong credit metrics, including low leverage relative to our total capitalization and operating cash flows. We are one of the highest rated REITs, as rated by major rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. Our senior notes payable have an “A” credit rating by Standard & Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s. Our credit ratings on each of our series of preferred shares are “A3” by Moody’s and “BBB+” by Standard & Poor’s. Our credit profile enables us to effectively access both the public and private capital markets to raise capital.
Our revolving line of credit has a borrowing limit of $1.5 billion. The revolving line of credit generally serves as a temporary “bridge” financing until we are able to raise longer term capital. As of December 31, 2024 and February 24, 2025, there were no borrowings outstanding on the revolving line of credit; however, we do have approximately $19.6 million of outstanding letters of credit, which limits our borrowing capacity to $1,480.4 million as of February 24, 2025. Our line of credit matures on June 12, 2027.
In 2024, our Board authorized an “at the market” offering program pursuant to which management may issue common shares up to an aggregate gross sales price of $2.0 billion on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Through December 31, 2024 and February 24, 2025, we have issued a total of 184,390 common shares on the open market for an aggregate gross sales price of $61.4 million and received net proceeds of approximately $60.3 million after issuance costs.
We believe that we have significant financial flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and opportunities, and we have significant access to sources of capital including debt and preferred equity. Based on our strong credit profile and our substantial current liquidity relative to our capital requirements noted below, we would not expect any potential capital market dislocations to have a material impact upon our expected capital and growth plans over the next 12 months. However, if capital market conditions deteriorate significantly for a long period of time, our access to or cost of debt and preferred equity capital could be negatively impacted and potentially affect future investment activities.
Our current and expected capital resources include: (i) $447.4 million of cash as of December 31, 2024 and (ii) approximately $600 million of expected retained operating cash flow over the next twelve months. Additionally, we have $1,480.4 million available borrowing capacity on our revolving line of credit, which can be used as temporary “bridge” financing until we are able to raise longer term capital. We believe that our cash provided by our operating activities will continue to be sufficient to enable us to meet our ongoing cash requirements for interest payments on debt, maintenance capital expenditures, and distributions to our shareholders for the foreseeable future.
As described below, our current committed cash requirements consist of (i) $140.7 million in property acquisitions currently under contract, (ii) $433.5 million of remaining spending on our current development pipeline, which will be incurred primarily in the next 18 to 24 months, and (iii) approximately $651 million in scheduled principal repayments on our unsecured notes in the next twelve months. We plan to refinance these unsecured notes as they come due in 2025. Our cash requirements may increase over the next year as we add projects to our development pipeline and acquire additional properties. Additional potential cash requirements could result from various activities including the redemption of outstanding preferred securities, repurchases of common stock, or merger and acquisition activities, as and to the extent we determine to engage in such activities.
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Over the long term, to the extent that our cash requirements exceed our capital resources, we believe we have a variety of possibilities to raise additional capital including issuing common or preferred securities, debt, and limited partnership interests, or entering into joint venture arrangements to acquire or develop facilities.
Cash Requirements
The following summarizes our expected material cash requirements, which comprise (i) contractually obligated expenditures, including payments of principal and interest, (ii) other essential expenditures, including property operating expenses, maintenance capital expenditures and dividends paid in accordance with REIT distribution requirements, and (iii) opportunistic expenditures, including acquisitions and developments and repurchases of our securities. We expect to satisfy these cash requirements through operating cash flow and opportunistic debt and equity financings.
Required Debt Repayments:As of December 31, 2024, the principal outstanding on our debt totaled approximately $9.4 billion, consisting of $7.8 billion of U.S. Dollar denominated unsecured notes payable, $1.7 billion of Euro-denominated unsecured notes payable, and $1.7 million of mortgage notes payable. Approximate principal maturities and interest payments (including $111.1 million in estimated interest on our $1.1 billion variable rate unsecured notes based on rates in effect at December 31, 2024) are as follows (amounts in thousands):
Principal Interest Total
We have $400 million of our U.S. Dollar denominated unsecured notes that mature on July 25, 2025 and €242 million of our Euro denominated unsecured notes that mature on November 3, 2025. We plan to refinance these unsecured notes as they come due.
Capital Expenditure Requirements: Capital expenditures include general maintenance, major repairs, or replacements to elements of our facilities to keep our facilities in good operating condition and maintain their visual appeal. Capital expenditures do not include costs relating to the development of new facilities or redevelopment of existing facilities to increase their available rentable square footage.
We spent $240 million of capital expenditures to maintain real estate facilities in 2024 and expect to spend approximately $150 million in 2025. In addition to standard capital repairs of building elements reaching the end of their useful lives, our capital expenditures in recent years have included incremental expenditures to enhance the competitive position of certain of our facilities relative to local competitors pursuant to a multi-year Property of Tomorrow program. Such investments include development of more pronounced, attractive, and clearly identifiable color schemes and signage and upgrades to the configuration and layout of the offices and other customer zones to improve the customer experience. We completed this program in 2024 and spent approximately $127 million in 2024 on this effort. In addition, we have spent $54 million on the installation of solar panels in 2024 and we expect to spend approximately $50 million in 2025.
We believe the capital spent to install solar panels and LED lights will significantly reduce electric utility usage resulting in lower property operating costs.
Requirement to Pay Distributions: For all periods presented herein, we have elected to be treated as a REIT, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code. For each taxable year in which we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we will not be subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on our “REIT taxable income” (generally, taxable income subject to specified adjustments, including a deduction for dividends paid and excluding our net capital gain) that is distributed to our shareholders. We believe we have met these requirements in all periods presented herein, and we expect to continue to qualify as a REIT.
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On February 21, 2025, our Board declared a regular common quarterly dividend of $3.00 per common share totaling approximately $526 million, which will be paid at the end of March 2025. Our consistent, long-term dividend policy has been to distribute our taxable income. Future quarterly distributions with respect to the common shares will continue to be determined based upon our REIT distribution requirements after taking into consideration distributions to the preferred shareholders and will be funded with cash flows from operating activities.
The annual distribution requirement with respect to our preferred shares outstanding at December 31, 2024 is approximately $194.7 million per year.
Real Estate Investment Activities:We continue to seek to acquire additional self-storage facilities from third parties. Subsequent to December 31, 2024, we acquired or were under contract to acquire nine self-storage facilities for a total purchase price of $140.7 million.
We are actively seeking to acquire additional facilities. However, future acquisition volume will depend upon whether additional owners will be motivated to market their facilities, which will in turn depend upon factors such as economic conditions and the level of seller confidence.
As of December 31, 2024, we had development and expansion projects at a total cost of approximately $741.6 million. Costs incurred through December 31, 2024 were $308.1 million, with the remaining cost to complete of $433.5 million expected to be incurred primarily in the next 18 to 24 months. Some of these projects are subject to contingencies such as entitlement approval. We expect to continue to seek to add projects to maintain and increase our robust pipeline. Our ability to do so continues to be challenged by various constraints such as difficulty in finding projects that meet our risk-adjusted yield expectations and challenges in obtaining building permits for self-storage facilities in certain municipalities.
Property Operating Expenses: The direct and indirect cost of our operations impose significant cash requirements. Direct operating costs include property taxes, on-site property manager payroll, repairs and maintenance, utilities, and marketing. Indirect operating costs include supervisory payroll and centralized management costs. The cash requirements from these operating costs will vary year to year based on, among other things, changes in the size of our portfolio and changes in property tax rates and assessed values, wage rates, and marketing costs in our markets.
Redemption of Preferred Securities: Historically, we have taken advantage of refinancing higher coupon preferred securities with lower coupon preferred securities. In the future, we may also elect to finance the redemption of preferred securities with proceeds from the issuance of debt. As of February 24, 2025, we have six series of preferred securities that are eligible for redemption, at our option and with 30 days’ notice: our 5.150% Series F Preferred Shares ($280.0 million), 5.050% Series G Preferred Shares ($300.0 million), 5.600% Series H Preferred Shares ($285.0 million), 4.875% Series I Preferred Shares ($316.3 million), 4.700% Series J Preferred Shares ($258.8 million), and 4.750% Series K Preferred Shares ($230.0 million). See Note 9 to our December 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements for the redemption dates of all of our series of preferred shares. Redemption of such preferred shares will depend upon many factors, including the rate at which we could issue replacement preferred securities. None of our preferred securities are redeemable at the option of the holders.
Repurchases of Common Shares: Our Board has authorized a share repurchase program pursuant to which management may purchase up to 35,000,000 of our common shares on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. During 2024, we repurchased 726,865 of our common shares under the repurchase program on the open market for a total cost of $200.0 million (none in the three months ended December 31, 2024). From the inception of the repurchase program through February 24, 2025, we have repurchased a total of 24,448,781 common shares at an aggregate cost of approximately $879.1 million. All the repurchased shares are constructively retired and returned to an authorized and unissued status. Future levels of common share repurchases will be dependent upon our available capital, investment alternatives and the trading price of our common shares.
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ITEM 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
To limit our exposure to market risk, we are capitalized primarily with preferred and common equity. Our preferred shares are redeemable at our option generally five years after issuance, but the holder has no redemption option. Our debt, which totals approximately $9.4 billion at December 31, 2024, is the only market-risk sensitive portion of our capital structure.
The fair value of our debt at December 31, 2024 is approximately $8.8 billion. The table below summarizes the annual maturities of our debt, which had a weighted average effective rate of 3.1% at December 31, 2024. See Note 7 to our December 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements for further information regarding our debt (amounts in thousands).
We have foreign currency exposure at December 31, 2024 related to (i) our investment in Shurgard, with a book value of $382.5 million, and a fair value of $1.3 billion based upon the closing price of Shurgard’s stock on December 31, 2024, and (ii) €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) of Euro-denominated unsecured notes payable, providing a natural hedge against the fair value of our investment in Shurgard.
ITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The financial statements and supplementary data appearing on pages F-3 to F-35 are incorporated herein by reference.
ITEM 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
Not applicable.
ITEM 9A. Controls and Procedures
Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in reports we file and submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in accordance with SEC guidelines, and that such information is communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure based on the definition “of disclosure controls and procedures” in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures in reaching that level of reasonable assurance. We also have investments in certain unconsolidated real estate entities, and, because we do not control these entities, our disclosure controls and procedures with respect to such entities are substantially more limited than those we maintain with respect to our consolidated subsidiaries.
As of December 31, 2024, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act). Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2024, at a reasonable assurance level.
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Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act. Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee on Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 Framework). Based on our evaluation under the framework in Internal Control-Integrated Framework, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2024.
The effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, has been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm. Ernst & Young LLP’s report on our internal control over financial reporting appears below.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There have not been any changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the fourth quarter of 2024 to which this report relates that have materially affected, or are reasonable likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Trustees of Public Storage
Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have audited Public Storage’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, Public Storage (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on the COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, equity and redeemable noncontrolling interests and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024 and the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(a) and our report dated February 24, 2025 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Basis for Opinion
The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Los Angeles, California
February 24, 2025
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ITEM 9B. Other Information
During the three months ended December 31, 2024, no trustee or officer of the Company, nor the Company itself, adopted or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” or “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” as each term is defined in Item 408(a) of Regulation S-K.
ITEM 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
Not applicable.
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PART III
ITEM 10. Trustees, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
The following is a biographical summary of the current executive officers of the Company:
Joseph D. Russell, Jr., age 65, has served as Chief Executive Officer since January 1, 2019, and as President since July 2016. Prior to joining Public Storage, Mr. Russell was President and Chief Executive Officer of PS Business Parks, Inc. from August 2002 to July 2016. Mr. Russell has also served as a trustee of Public Storage since January 1, 2019.
H. Thomas Boyle, age 42, has served as Chief Financial Officer since January 1, 2019 and Chief Investment Officer since January 1, 2023. Previously, Mr. Boyle was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Operations, from November 2016, when he joined the Company, until January 2019. Prior to joining Public Storage, Mr. Boyle served in roles of increasing responsibilities with Morgan Stanley since 2005, from analyst to his last role as Executive Director, Equity and Debt Capital Markets. Mr. Boyle has served as a director of Shurgard and a member of Shurgard’s Real Estate Investment Committee since May 2023.
Natalia N. Johnson, age 47, has served as Chief Administrative Officer since August 4, 2020. Previously, Ms. Johnson was Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer from April 2018 until August 2020, and prior to that was Senior Vice President of Human Resources, a position she held since joining the Company in July 2016. Prior to joining Public Storage, Ms. Johnson held a variety of senior management positions at Bank of America, including Chief Operating Officer for Mortgage Technology and Human Resources Executive for the Mortgage Business, and worked for Coca-Cola Andina and San Cristόbal Insurance. Ms. Johnson has served as a director of WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. since August 2023 and is a member of the Audit and Compensation committees.
Nathaniel A. Vitan, age 51, has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since April 20, 2019, and was previously Vice President and Chief Counsel–Litigation and Operations since joining the Company in June 2016 until April 2019. Prior to joining Public Storage, Mr. Vitan was Assistant General Counsel for Altria Client Services LLC from 2008 to 2016, and before then was a Trial and Appellate Practice attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP.
Chris C. Sambar, age 51, has served as our Chief Operating Officer since he joined the Company on October 14, 2024. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Sambar held various roles of increasing responsibility at AT&T Communications since 2002, most recently as President, AT&T Network from August 2022 to October 2024 and as Executive Vice President, AT&T Network from September 2019 to August 2022. Mr. Sambar has served as a director of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) since June 2024.
Other information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the material appearing in the Company’s Notice and Proxy Statement for its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.
ITEM 11. Executive Compensation
The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the material appearing in the Company’s Notice and Proxy Statement for its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.
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ITEM 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters
The following table sets forth information, as of December 31, 2024 on the Company’s equity compensation plans:
Equity Compensation Plan Information
(A) (B) (C)
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders (d) — — —
a)The Company’s equity compensation plans are described more fully in Note 11 to the December 31, 2024 financial statements. All plans have been approved by the Company’s shareholders.
b)Includes (i) stock options and AO LTIP units to purchase 2,727,342 common shares or to convert to vested LTIP units, including performance-based stock options and AO LTIP units as to which the performance period had not ended or the Compensation Committee had not certified performance as of December 31, 2024, which stock options and AO LTIP units are reflected in the table above assuming a maximum payout, (ii) 451,222 restricted share units and LTIP units, including performance-based restricted share units and LTIP units as to which the performance period had not ended as of December 31, 2024, which restricted share units and LTIP units are reflected in the table above assuming a maximum payout, and (iii) 11,734 fully vested deferred share units. All restricted share and LTIP units, if and when vested, and all deferred share units will be settled in common shares or into common units of PSA OP on a one-for-one basis.
c)Represents the weighted average exercise or conversion price of stock options or AO LTIP units to purchase 2,373,588 common shares or to convert to vested LTIP units, excluding the performance-based stock options and AO LTIP units described in footnote (b), above. The 451,222 restricted share or LTIP units would vest for no consideration.
d)There were no securities outstanding or available for future issuance under equity compensation plans not approved by the Company’s shareholders.
Other information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the material appearing in the Company’s Notice and Proxy Statement for its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.
ITEM 13.Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Trustee Independence
The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the material appearing in the Company’s Notice and Proxy Statement for its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.
ITEM 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the material appearing in the Company’s Notice and Proxy Statement for its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act of 1934.
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PART IV
ITEM 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
a. 1. Financial Statements
The financial statements listed in the accompanying Index to Consolidated Financial Statements and Schedules hereof are filed as part of this report.
2.Financial Statement Schedules
The financial statements schedules listed in the accompanying Index to Consolidated Financial Statements and Schedules are filed as part of this report.
3.Exhibits
See Index to Exhibits contained herein.
b.Exhibits:
See Index to Exhibits contained herein.
c.Financial Statement Schedules
Not applicable.
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PUBLIC STORAGE
INDEX TO EXHIBITS (1)
(Items 15(a)(3) and 15(c))
59
60
61
19.1 Public Storage Securities Trading Policy. Filed herewith.
21 Listing of Subsidiaries. Filed herewith.
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23.1 Consent of Ernst & Young LLP. Filed herewith.
31.1 Rule 13a – 14(a) Certification. Filed herewith.
31.2 Rule 13a – 14(a) Certification. Filed herewith.
32 Section 1350 Certifications. Filed herewith.
101 .SCH Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema. Filed herewith.
101 .CAL Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase. Filed herewith.
101 .DEF Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase. Filed herewith.
101 .LAB Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase. Filed herewith.
101 .PRE Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Link. Filed herewith.
_ (1) SEC File No. 001-33519 unless otherwise indicated.
* Denotes management compensatory plan agreement or arrangement.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
PUBLIC STORAGE
Date: February 24, 2025 By: /s/ Joseph D. Russell, Jr.
Joseph D. Russell, Jr.,Chief Executive Officer, President and Trustee
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature Title Date
Joseph D. Russell, Jr.
H. Thomas Boyle
/s/ Ronald L. Havner, Jr. Chairman of the Board February 24, 2025
Ronald L. Havner, Jr.
/s/ Tamara Hughes Gustavson Trustee February 24, 2025
Tamara Hughes Gustavson
/s/ Maria R. Hawthorne Trustee February 24, 2025
Maria R. Hawthorne
/s/ Shankh S. Mitra Trustee February 24, 2025
Shankh S. Mitra
/s/ Rebecca Owen Trustee February 24, 2025
Rebecca Owen
/s/ Kristy M. Pipes Trustee February 24, 2025
Kristy M. Pipes
/s/ Avedick B. Poladian Trustee February 24, 2025
Avedick B. Poladian
/s/ John Reyes Trustee February 24, 2025
John Reyes
/s/ Tariq M. Shaukat Trustee February 24, 2025
Tariq M. Shaukat
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Signature Title Date
/s/ Ronald P. Spogli Trustee February 24, 2025
Ronald P. Spogli
/s/ Paul S. Williams Trustee February 24, 2025
Paul S. Williams
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PUBLIC STORAGE
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
AND SCHEDULES
(Item 15 (a))
Page References
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 F-3
Consolidated Statements of Income F-4
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income F-5
Consolidated Statements of Equity and Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests F-6
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows F-8
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements F-10
Schedule:
III – Real Estate and Accumulated Depreciation F-36
All other schedules have been omitted since the required information is not present or not present in amounts sufficient to require submission of the schedule, or because the information required is included in the consolidated financial statements or notes thereto.
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Trustees of Public Storage
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Public Storage (the Company) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, equity and redeemable noncontrolling interests and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024 , and the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(a) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.