The Extra Space Storage team took performance to new heights in 2021, with a record-breaking year in almost every area of the business. From innovative ways to invest capital in self storage to evolving our employee experience, our 2021 Annual Report covers some of the team’s efforts to innovate, implement, and grow. Here are some highlights of our performance this past year.
In 2021, occupancy hit a new high of 97.2% due to robust demand and low vacancy rates. Thanks to our team’s stellar execution, same-store sales also increased by 13.8%. In addition to increased revenue, we decreased same-store spending by 1.0% and reduced marketing costs by 30.5% for the year. This led to our highest-ever net operating income of 19.7 percent.
Acquisitions, tenant reinsurance, management fees, bridge loan interest, and preferred equity investments further boosted core-FFO (Funds From Operations). This led to core-FFO growth of approximately $246 million, or 30.9% per share, leading the storage industry and ranking among the highest of public REITs. One-year total shareholder return was 101%, the most in the storage sector, and 10-year return was 1,209%, the highest in the industry and of any publicly traded REIT in the U.S.
We also saw growth and innovation in our balance sheet, most notably in the form of our second public credit rating, a Baa2 stable rating from Moody’s to go along with our BBB stable rating from S&P Global. Shortly after that, we issued our first-ever investment grade bond, totaling $450 million and maturing in 10 years at a rate of 2.55%. A few months later, we issued $600 million in 10-year bonds at a rate of 2.35 percent through a secondary offering. These unsecured financing arrangements helped us lower our reliance on secured loans. Furthermore, we reduced our total leverage by using the net operating income and the proceeds from selling two slower-growth portfolios. In 2021, our net debt to EBITDA ratio was 5.1x, our unencumbered asset pool was over $13 billion, and we were well inside all our debt covenant parameters.
Our strategy is to have a well-proportioned, financially flexible balance sheet that can support our operations and finance our growth efficiently in any economic climate.
See our 2021 Annual Report. Learn more about our latest projects and business news or explore over a decade of Extra Space Storage annual reports.