CubeSmart (CUBE) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the CubeSmart First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Charlie and I'll be coordinating the call today. (Operator Instructions) I will now hand over to our host Josh Schutzer, Vice President of Finance, to begin. Josh, please go ahead.

大家好，歡迎來到 CubeSmart 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。我叫查理，今天我將負責協調電話會議。 （操作員說明）我現在將交給主持人財務副總裁 Josh Schutzer 開始。喬希，請繼續。

Thank you, Charlie. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CubeSmart's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Participants on today's call include Chris Marr, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Tim Martin, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，查理。大家，早安。歡迎來到 CubeSmart 的 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。今天電話會議的參與者包括總裁兼首席執行官 Chris Marr；和蒂姆·馬丁，首席財務官。

Our prepared remarks will be followed by a Q&A session. In addition to our earnings release, which was issued yesterday evening, supplemental operating and financial data is available under the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.cubesmart.com.

我們準備好的評論之後將進行問答環節。除了我們昨天晚上發布的收益報告外，還可以在公司網站 www.cubesmart.com 的“投資者關係”部分獲取補充運營和財務數據。

The company's remarks will include certain forward-looking statements regarding earnings and strategy that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. The risks and factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements are provided in documents the company furnishes to or files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the Form 8-K we filed this morning, together with our earnings release filed with the Form 8-K and the Risk Factors section of the company's annual report on Form 10-K.

公司的評論將包括某些有關收益和戰略的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述涉及風險、不確定性和其他可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述存在重大差異的因素。公司向美國證券交易委員會提供或提交的文件中提供了可能導致我們的實際結果與前瞻性陳述存在重大差異的風險和因素，特別是我們今天早上提交的 8-K 表格以及我們的收益與 8-K 表格和公司 10-K 表格年度報告的風險因素部分一起提交的版本。

In addition, the company's remarks include reference to non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP measures can be found on the company -- can be found in the first quarter financial supplement posted on the company's website at www.cubesmart.com. I will now turn the call over to Chris.

此外，該公司的言論包括對非 GAAP 措施的提及。可以在公司找到 GAAP 和非 GAAP 措施之間的對賬 - 可以在公司網站 www.cubesmart.com 上發布的第一季度財務補充中找到。我現在將電話轉給克里斯。

Thank you, Josh. Good morning, everyone. Our first quarter of 2023 can be characterized as solid performance across all of our key performance metrics. Funds from operations per share came in at the high end of our guidance as steady occupancy trends, coupled with our continued focus on expense control helped to generate strong same-store net operating income growth.

謝謝你，喬希。大家，早安。我們在 2023 年第一季度的所有關鍵績效指標都表現穩定。由於穩定的入住率趨勢以及我們對費用控制的持續關注有助於產生強勁的同店淨營業收入增長，因此每股運營資金處於我們指導的高端。

Our customers are resiliently navigating an uncertain post-COVID economy. While the Fed pushes up interest rates to cool inflation, the unemployment rate remains historically low. Volatility in mortgage rates has created an uncertain housing market as prices remain stubbornly high, resulting in a slowing single-family home purchases and sales. We believe our portfolio focus on top markets and strong demographics has us well positioned to perform throughout all macro environments.

我們的客戶正在靈活地駕馭不確定的後 COVID 經濟。儘管美聯儲提高利率以冷卻通脹，但失業率仍處於歷史低位。抵押貸款利率的波動造成了房地產市場的不確定性，因為價格居高不下，導致單戶住宅的買賣放緩。我們相信我們的投資組合專注於頂級市場和強大的人口統計數據使我們能夠在所有宏觀環境中表現出色。

Low unemployment, continued wage growth and solid household balance sheets translate into historically good credit metrics across our customer base. During the first quarter, delinquency metrics such as late fees charged and receivables over 30 days past due are at levels below what we experienced in the first quarter of 2019. Another bright spot continues to be the stickiness of our existing customer base. Vacates during the quarter were down 3.3% from the first quarter of last year and down 9.5% on a comparable store basis to the first quarter of 2019. 47.9% of our customers have been with us longer than 2 years, up 230 basis points from this time last year. This results in a larger pool of customers to potentially receive a rate increase.

低失業率、持續的工資增長和穩健的家庭資產負債表轉化為我們客戶群歷史上良好的信用指標。在第一季度，滯納金和逾期 30 天以上的應收賬款等拖欠指標低於我們在 2019 年第一季度的水平。另一個亮點仍然是我們現有客戶群的粘性。本季度的休假率比去年第一季度下降了 3.3%，與 2019 年第一季度相比，可比商店下降了 9.5%。47.9% 的客戶在我們這里工作的時間超過 2 年，比 2019 年第一季度上升了 230 個基點去年的這個時候。這導致更多的客戶有可能獲得利率上漲。

Top-of-funnel demand trends have been less consistent with historical patterns than we expected. We had a solid first couple of months as same-store rentals through February were consistent with the same time period last year. In March, trends slowed as weather, bank failures impacting consumer confidence and existing home sales weighed on March storage demand.

漏斗頂端的需求趨勢與歷史模式的一致性不如我們預期。由於截至 2 月的同店租金與去年同期持平，我們前幾個月表現良好。 3 月份，由於天氣、影響消費者信心的銀行倒閉以及成屋銷售對 3 月份的存儲需求造成壓力，趨勢放緩。

March occupancy trends were mostly in line with last year, but that was driven by lower vacate activity offsetting slower-than-expected rental activity, which led us to a more cautious approach to rental rates. As we moved into April, trends have been on a more normal trajectory. Rental and reservation activity has returned back in line with last year's levels as we've seen stabilizing signs in both the housing market and with consumer confidence. As a result, we have grown our occupancy, narrowing the gap to last year to 141 basis points and we are moving up rental rates as the busy season begins to ramp up.

3 月份的入住率趨勢與去年基本一致，但這是由於較低的空置活動抵消了慢於預期的租賃活動，這導致我們對租金采取更加謹慎的態度。隨著我們進入 4 月，趨勢一直處於更正常的軌道上。由於我們看到房地產市場和消費者信心出現企穩跡象，租金和預訂活動已恢復到去年的水平。因此，我們增加了入住率，將與去年的差距縮小至 141 個基點，並且隨著旺季開始增加，我們正在上調租金。

We have experienced unusual trend so far this year. The demand momentum we saw in January and February slowed in March, only to show signs of reigniting in April. Recent trends have us cautiously optimistic. But as we noted during our prior earnings call, the outlook for the back half of the year is heavily dependent on performance during the next few months of the rental season.

今年到目前為止，我們經歷了不尋常的趨勢。我們在 1 月和 2 月看到的需求勢頭在 3 月放緩，但在 4 月才顯示出重新點燃的跡象。最近的趨勢讓我們謹慎樂觀。但正如我們在之前的財報電話會議上指出的那樣，今年下半年的前景在很大程度上取決於租賃季節接下來幾個月的表現。

Touching briefly on market level performance. The New York MSA was our most resilient MSA with our borough properties experiencing positive growth in both occupancy and net effective rents to new customers compared to the first quarter of last year. This was offset somewhat by softness in supply impacted North Jersey and Long Island markets within the overall MSA.

簡要談到市場水平的表現。紐約 MSA 是我們最具彈性的 MSA，與去年第一季度相比，我們的自治市鎮物業在新客戶入住率和淨有效租金方面均出現正增長。這在一定程度上被供應疲軟所抵消，供應疲軟影響了整個 MSA 中的北澤西和長島市場。

While decelerating off of their tremendous '22 levels, we continue to experience above-average revenue growth in our Florida, Texas and Southern California markets. We experienced below average growth in the supply-impacted D.C., Virginia, Maryland markets and in Arizona, where COVID-induced migration has clearly waned.

在從 22 年的巨大水平上減速的同時，我們繼續在佛羅里達、德克薩斯和南加州市場實現高於平均水平的收入增長。我們在受供應影響的華盛頓特區、弗吉尼亞州、馬里蘭州市場和亞利桑那州經歷了低於平均水平的增長，在這些地方，COVID 引發的移民明顯減少。

We continue to underwrite a good number of transactions, but seller expectations for assets that meet the quality requirements of our portfolio strategy are still disconnected from our current cost of capital. We are finding ways to accretively deploy capital within our existing portfolio as full-scale redevelopments and cost-saving upgrades to high-efficiency building systems are proving to be the best opportunity for capital deployment in this part of the cycle.

我們繼續承銷大量交易，但賣方對滿足我們投資組合戰略質量要求的資產的期望仍與我們當前的資本成本脫節。我們正在尋找在現有投資組合中增加資本配置的方法，因為事實證明，對高效建築系統進行全面重建和成本節約升級是本週期這一部分資本配置的最佳機會。

We remain a third-party partner of choice as our reputation in the industry has consistently maintained our robust pipeline of new management opportunities. Our operating platform is prime to maximize performance, no matter the macro environment. Our differentiated strategic focus on quality across our portfolio and platform positions us well to generate shareholder value over the long term. Thanks for listening, and I will now turn the call over to Tim Martin, our Chief Financial Officer, for his remarks.

我們仍然是首選的第三方合作夥伴，因為我們在行業中的聲譽一直保持著我們強大的新管理機會渠道。無論宏觀環境如何，我們的操作平台都能最大限度地提高性能。我們對產品組合和平台質量的差異化戰略重點使我們能夠長期創造股東價值。感謝您的收聽，我現在將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官蒂姆·馬丁，聽取他的意見。

Thanks, Chris, and thank you to everyone on the call for your continued interest and for spending a few minutes of your time with us today. As Chris touched on, operating fundamentals during the first quarter were largely in line with our expectations, and we continue to experience a return to more normal seasonality in the business, consistent with our discussion over the last several quarters.

謝謝 Chris，也感謝電話中的每一個人，感謝你們一直以來的關注，並感謝你們今天花幾分鐘時間和我們在一起。正如克里斯談到的那樣，第一季度的運營基本面基本符合我們的預期，我們繼續經歷業務季節性回歸，這與我們在過去幾個季度的討論一致。

We reported FFO per share as adjusted of $0.65 for the quarter, which was at the high end of our guidance range and represents 12.1% growth over the first quarter last year. Our continuing focus on being as efficient as we can be, along with a mild winter, resulted in 1% same-store expense growth which when combined with 6.9% revenue growth, produced a healthy 9.1% growth in same-store net operating income.

我們報告本季度每股 FFO 調整後為 0.65 美元，處於我們指導範圍的高端，比去年第一季度增長 12.1%。我們繼續專注於盡可能提高效率，加上溫和的冬天，導致同店費用增長 1%，加上 6.9% 的收入增長，使同店淨營業收入健康增長 9.1%。

Month-to-month occupancy trends during the quarter largely mirrored those of the first quarter of 2022. Our same-store portfolio gained 60 basis points of occupancy sequentially from the fourth quarter, ending the first quarter at 91.9%. We remain disciplined in our pursuit of external growth opportunities with no transaction activity to report in the first quarter.

本季度的月度入住率趨勢在很大程度上反映了 2022 年第一季度的趨勢。我們的同店投資組合的入住率比第四季度連續增長了 60 個基點，第一季度末為 91.9%。我們在追求外部增長機會方面保持紀律，第一季度沒有交易活動報告。

Our investment team continues to be active, although deal volume that went through our underwriting process was down about 30% compared to the first quarter of 2022. We continue to generally see a disconnect in the bid-ask spread, and we're generally not seeing the high-quality opportunities that we were seeing over the past couple of years.

我們的投資團隊繼續保持活躍，儘管通過我們承銷流程的交易量與 2022 年第一季度相比下降了約 30%。我們仍然普遍看到買賣差價脫節，而且我們通常不會看到我們在過去幾年中看到的高質量機會。

On the third-party management front, we added 25 stores in the first quarter, bringing our total third-party managed store count to 676. In the current environment, no news is good news when it comes to corporate balance sheets and our balance sheet remains very healthy, putting us in a great position to pursue external growth opportunities when we see attractive relative returns. Our average debt maturity is 6 years, 98% of our debt is fixed rate. We have no significant maturities until November of 2025, and our leverage levels remain very low at 4.4x debt to EBITDA.

在第三方管理方面，我們在第一季度增加了 25 家門店，使我們的第三方管理門店總數達到 676 家。在當前環境下，就公司資產負債表和我們的資產負債表而言，沒有消息就是好消息仍然非常健康，當我們看到有吸引力的相對回報時，使我們處於尋求外部增長機會的有利位置。我們的平均債務期限為 6 年，我們 98% 的債務是固定利率的。我們在 2025 年 11 月之前沒有重大期限，我們的槓桿水平仍然很低，為 EBITDA 債務的 4.4 倍。

Details of our 2023 earnings guidance and related assumptions were included in our release last night. Our forward guidance for the year remains consistent with the guidance we provided in late February. So wrapping up, good in-line first quarter, balance sheet is in great shape, patient and ready to find attractive external growth opportunities, and our team is ready and energized heading into our sector's busy rental season here in the summer. Thanks again for joining us on the call this morning. At this time, Charlie, why don't we open up the call for some questions.

我們 2023 年收益指引和相關假設的詳細信息已包含在我們昨晚發布的新聞稿中。我們今年的前瞻性指引與我們在 2 月下旬提供的指引保持一致。總結一下，第一季度表現良好，資產負債表狀況良好，有耐心並準備好尋找有吸引力的外部增長機會，我們的團隊已準備好並充滿活力地進入夏季我們行業繁忙的租賃季節。再次感謝您今天早上加入我們的電話會議。這個時候，查理，我們為什麼不打開電話問一些問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Michael Goldsmith of UBS.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自瑞銀的邁克爾戈德史密斯。

My first question, on what you're seeing in April, it sounds like March was slower, April kind of returned to a more normal trajectory with run rates back in line. I guess, like can you provide a little bit more color about where the demand is coming from? I think you talked a little bit about the housing market. You talked about rates moving higher. Can you kind of quantify that? And then as well, did your ECRIs kind of come down during the slowdown in March? And how are you thinking about that back now that things are more normal in April?

我的第一個問題，關於你在 4 月份看到的情況，聽起來 3 月份比較慢，4 月份有點回到更正常的軌跡，運行率恢復一致。我想，你能提供更多關於需求來源的顏色嗎？我想你談到了一些關於房地產市場的問題。你談到利率走高。你能量化一下嗎？然後，在 3 月份的經濟放緩期間，您的 ECRI 是否有所下降？既然 4 月份的情況更加正常，您又是如何考慮的？

Sure. Thanks. That was a little bit unpacked there. Let me see if I can remember all the questions and answer them all. So going backwards, I think from a rate increase to the existing customer perspective, we averaged mid-teens in the first quarter. That was consistent with our average for the fourth quarter of last year and down from the high teens that we would have averaged in the first quarter of 2022.

當然。謝謝。那裡有點鬆散。讓我看看我是否能記住所有問題並全部回答。所以倒退，我認為從現有客戶的增長率來看，我們在第一季度的平均水平為十幾歲左右。這與我們去年第四季度的平均水平一致，低於我們在 2022 年第一季度的平均水平。

So as we expected, if you think about kind of a historical expectation, so 1Q '19, we keep pointing to is pre-COVID metric, we averaged in around the 12% range in the first quarter of '19. So as we have talked about, I think, earlier in the year, the expectation is that the rate increases to the existing customers will continue to outpace pre-COVID, but come down from what we saw in a historically great 2020. In terms of customer demand, it is -- obviously varies a lot by market. So absolutely thrilled with the performance in the New York boroughs. There you have a portfolio construct that is just made for this type of a climate. We have a very sticky customer there and a customer there that is not so focused transactionally on moving. And so that market, as we would have expected, continues to perform quite well in the current conditions.

因此，正如我們預期的那樣，如果你考慮一種歷史預期，那麼 19 年第一季度，我們一直指向 COVID 之前的指標，我們在 19 年第一季度的平均增長率在 12% 左右。因此，正如我們在今年早些時候談到的那樣，我認為現有客戶的增長率將繼續超過 COVID 之前的增長率，但低於我們在歷史上偉大的 2020 年所看到的水平。就客戶需求，它是 - 顯然因市場而異。對紐約各區的表演感到非常興奮。那裡有一個專為這種氣候而設計的投資組合結構。我們在那裡有一個非常粘性的客戶，還有一個客戶在交易上並不那麼專注於搬家。因此，正如我們所預期的那樣，該市場在當前條件下繼續表現良好。

Rest of the country, I would say that the performance and where the customers are coming from continues to be from what you would have expected historically. Certainly, in some of the Sun Belt markets, March, we just didn't see the shorter-term moving customer. We're starting -- obviously, we've picked up the college students at this point, and that will continue here for a little bit. And again, signs in April that perhaps that moving customer is returned or March was an anomaly. We'll continue to pay close attention to that as we get into May and June.

在全國其他地區，我會說性能和客戶來自哪裡仍然與您以往的預期相符。當然，在 3 月份的一些 Sun Belt 市場中，我們只是沒有看到短期移動的客戶。我們正在開始 - 顯然，我們此時已經接收了大學生，並且會在這裡繼續一段時間。再一次，4 月份的跡象表明，也許那個搬家的客戶又回來了，或者 3 月份是一個異常情況。進入 5 月和 6 月時，我們將繼續密切關注這一點。

This was very helpful. And my follow-up question, you talked a little bit about it, is just kind of on New York on a -- same-store NOI was down 300 basis points sequentially for the portfolio, but New York was up 120 basis points sequentially. Now you also added 8 properties to the same-store pool. So I'm just kind of curious about the trends going on in New York and is this -- you've often talked about how at a time of moderation in New York is a market that outperformed. Is that kind of playing out as you expected?

這非常有幫助。我的後續問題，你談了一點，只是在紐約——投資組合的同店 NOI 連續下降 300 個基點，但紐約連續上升 120 個基點。現在您還向同店池中添加了 8 個屬性。所以我只是對紐約的趨勢感到好奇，這是——你經常談到紐約市場在溫和時期是如何表現出色的。這樣的結果是否如你所料？

Yes. It is playing out in the city as we expected. Those stores, I think, on the old pool accelerated 50 basis points and the new pool as reported, in the city. The MSA, you are suffering a little bit of supply impact in North Jersey and out on Long Island, but the stores in the boroughs, again, we're thrilled with the performance. We expected a good year, and it's playing out so far at that expectation or better.

是的。正如我們預期的那樣，它正在城市中上演。我認為，舊池中的那些商店加速了 50 個基點，而據報導，新池在城市中加速了。 MSA，你在北澤西和長島外的供應受到了一點影響，但行政區的商店，我們再次對錶現感到興奮。我們預計今年會是個好年景，到目前為止，它的表現達到了這個預期或更好。

Our next question comes from Samir Khanal of Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Samir Khanal。

Chris, so occupancy fell year-over-year, but we also saw the in-place rent decline sequentially. And you haven't seen that in a while I think many quarters, maybe even going back to '18. I guess how much of this decline is related to sort of normal seasonality versus the business starting to weaken here? Maybe you can help us unpack this.

克里斯，所以入住率同比下降，但我們也看到就地租金環比下降。而且你已經有一段時間沒有看到了，我認為很多季度，甚至可能回到 18 年。我想這種下降有多少與正常的季節性有關，而不是這裡的業務開始走弱？也許你可以幫我們打開包裝。

Yes. On the occupancy, again, you've got to make sure you're focused on the fact that the 2023 pool obviously changed on January 1. So if you think about where we started the year on an apples-to-apples basis, occupancy was down January 1 versus January 1 of last year by about the same as it was at the end of March. So the occupancy during the quarter didn't really change, which is more normal relative to trends 2019 and earlier.

是的。關於入住率，你必須再次確保你關注的事實是 2023 年的游泳池在 1 月 1 日明顯發生了變化。因此，如果你考慮一下我們今年年初的情況，入住率與去年 1 月 1 日相比，1 月 1 日的降幅與 3 月底的降幅大致相同。因此，本季度的入住率並沒有真正發生變化，這相對於 2019 年及更早的趨勢而言更為正常。

If you just look at seasonality from 2017 to 2019, rates typically fall and did every quarter, every year rather, from Q4 to Q1. So the patterns that you see in Q1, if you adjust for the change in the pool, are very typical to pre-COVID type patterns.

如果你只看 2017 年到 2019 年的季節性，利率通常會下降，而且每個季度都會下降，而不是每年，從第四季度到第一季度。因此，如果針對池中的變化進行調整，您在第一季度看到的模式對於 COVID 之前的類型模式來說非常典型。

And I guess my second question, Tim, I just wanted to ask about expense growth. When I look at last year, you did 3% for the year, but you guided, I think, it was close to 6% as part of your initial guidance. This year, you're guiding to 4.5% and you did (inaudible) depending on the same-store pool you look at. Maybe walk us through the things you're doing from an expense control standpoint. And is there more you can do that actually end up surprising us to the upside as the year goes by?

我想我的第二個問題，蒂姆，我只是想問一下費用增長。當我回顧去年時，你當年做了 3%，但我認為，作為你最初指導的一部分，你的指導接近 6%。今年，您將引導至 4.5%，並且您做到了（聽不清），具體取決於您查看的同店池。也許從費用控制的角度向我們介紹一下您正在做的事情。隨著時間的流逝，您是否還有更多可以做的事情最終會讓我們感到驚訝？

Well, I don't know what would surprise you. It's all relative to your expectation, I suppose. But I think we're proud of the results, and we have been focused, as Chris has touched upon for several quarters now on always controlling what we can control. And there are many of the line items from an expense standpoint that we can do just that. The first quarter, we saw the benefit of a mild winter which showed up in both lower-than-expected snow removal costs and lower-than-expected utility costs.

好吧，我不知道什麼會讓你感到驚訝。我想這完全取決於您的期望。但我認為我們對結果感到自豪，並且我們一直專注，正如克里斯幾個季度以來一直談到的，始終控制我們可以控制的東西。從費用的角度來看，我們可以做到這一點的許多項目。第一季度，我們看到了暖冬的好處，這體現在低於預期的除雪成本和低於預期的公用事業成本上。

I think as we think about how the rest of the year plays out, while we had a nice surprise there on winter costs, we've also had a negative surprise, I suppose that offsets it as we think about our property tax or property insurance rather, renewal process that we're going through. Those costs are going to come in a little bit higher for the year than we would have thought even 60 days ago. So those kind of offset each other. I think you then look into the balance of the year and you think about a line item like marketing expense, we're seeing some good opportunities to deploy marketing spend with attractive returns. So that's an area that we'll continue to push on at times when it makes sense for us to do so.

我認為，當我們考慮今年剩餘時間的表現時，雖然我們在冬季成本方面有一個不錯的驚喜，但我們也有一個負面的驚喜，我想這會在我們考慮財產稅或財產保險時抵消它相反，我們正在經歷的更新過程。今年的這些成本將比我們 60 天前想像的要高一點。所以這些相互抵消。我想你然後看看今年的餘額，你會考慮像營銷費用這樣的項目，我們看到一些很好的機會來部署營銷支出並獲得有吸引力的回報。因此，在我們認為有意義的時候，我們將繼續推進這一領域。

I think the line item that really jumps out at you over the past couple of quarters has been on the personnel side. And we've continued to find ways to combine our operational platform with technology, with how we staff stores, store hours, how we're using our sales center, how we're using our online tools to help our customers rent with us. And a lot of that has continued to show up in the personnel line item. Of course, we're going to start to have more difficult comps on that line item as we get later in the year. But those are the big areas of focus. And again, we're pleased to report 1% same-store expense growth.

我認為在過去的幾個季度裡，真正讓你印象深刻的項目是在人事方面。我們一直在尋找將我們的運營平台與技術相結合的方法，包括我們如何為商店配備人員、商店營業時間、我們如何使用我們的銷售中心、我們如何使用我們的在線工具來幫助我們的客戶與我們一起租房。其中很多繼續出現在人事項目中。當然，我們將在今年晚些時候開始對該訂單項進行更困難的補償。但這些都是重點關注的領域。再一次，我們很高興地報告同店費用增長 1%。

Our next question comes from Smedes Rose of Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Smedes Rose。

I just wanted to ask you as you go into your kind of busy -- rates, it sounds like consumers are maybe a little more cautious based on some of the remarks that you've said. So would you maybe go lower in order to sort of get folks in? Or how are you thinking about that?

我只是想問你，當你進入你的那種忙碌時 - 費率，根據你所說的一些言論，聽起來消費者可能會更加謹慎。那麼，您是否可以降低價格以使人們參與進來？或者你是怎麼想的？

Yes. Week-to-week, Smedes, that's really the point of focus here as we're looking out over the next couple of months is -- we have great properties in great demographic markets. And so from a customer perspective, we know they're going to see us. So when they make that decision to rent, we're really keenly focused on getting them into the top of the funnel and then making sure that our conversion of that reservation or that customer inquiry to a rental is operating as efficiently as possible and that we're then pricing in a way that maximizes that opportunity.

是的。每週，Smedes，這真的是這裡的焦點，因為我們在接下來的幾個月里關注的是——我們在人口眾多的市場上擁有很棒的房產。因此，從客戶的角度來看，我們知道他們會看到我們。因此，當他們做出租房決定時，我們非常專注於讓他們進入漏斗的頂端，然後確保我們盡可能高效地將預訂或客戶查詢轉化為租賃，並且我們' 然後以最大化該機會的方式定價。

And so it's a week-to-week decision as we go through. As we think about April, from the beginning of April through essentially today, we've increased rates about 8% and that's about consistent with what we would have done last year. So we're going to continue on that focus as long as the demand and conversion continues to support it. But it's been an unusual year-to-date. And so again, we're going to have that keen focus week to week and make sure we're maximizing that opportunity.

因此，這是我們每週都要做出的決定。當我們考慮 4 月時，從 4 月初到今天，我們已經將利率提高了約 8%，這與我們去年的做法基本一致。因此，只要需求和轉換繼續支持它，我們就會繼續關注這一重點。但今年迄今為止是不尋常的一年。因此，我們將每週都集中精力，確保我們最大限度地利用這個機會。

Okay. The other thing I just wanted to ask you, I know you added 25 stores, but it looks like it was more like 8 on a net basis to the third-party management platform. Are you just continuing to see volatility with just assets being sold? Or I'm just surprised because it sounds like there hasn't been a lot of transaction activity. So just maybe you could comment on that?

好的。還有一個就是想問你，我知道你加了25家店，但是第三方管理平台按淨計好像是8家。您是否只是繼續看到僅出售資產的波動性？或者我只是感到驚訝，因為聽起來好像沒有太多的交易活動。那麼也許你可以對此發表評論？

Yes, Smedes. It is -- we're starting to see the pace of stores, which is a good thing. Pace of stores that have our brand on them being marketed. There have been a handful over time. And again, as we said in the past, it's one of those bittersweet things we hate to see. We hate to see our name come down off of the sign. At the same time, in those cases, we've done a good job and done what our third-party clients expect us to do, which is to help create value for them and they realize that upon a sale.

是的，斯梅德斯。這是 - 我們開始看到商店的步伐，這是一件好事。帶有我們品牌的商店的營銷速度。隨著時間的推移，已經出現了一些。而且，正如我們過去所說，這是我們不願看到的苦樂參半的事情之一。我們討厭看到我們的名字從標誌上掉下來。與此同時，在這些情況下，我們做得很好，完成了第三方客戶希望我們做的事情，即幫助為他們創造價值，他們在銷售時意識到了這一點。

Many of them we would love to keep with the CubeSmart brand and acquire them on balance sheet. We haven't been particularly active as we touched on earlier. So I think it's hard to predict the net number because -- hard to predict when stores are going to come off the platform. What we can control and what we've done a good job of is keeping that pipeline of new stores coming on to the platform very healthy. And we do have a very healthy pipeline right now of owners who are seeking third-party management services and are viewing us as one of those premier providers of that service.

他們中的許多人我們很樂意保留 CubeSmart 品牌並在資產負債表上收購它們。正如我們之前提到的那樣，我們並沒有特別活躍。所以我認為很難預測淨數量，因為 - 很難預測商店何時會離開平台。我們可以控制並且我們做得很好的是保持進入平台的新商店管道非常健康。我們現在確實有一個非常健康的管道，這些所有者正在尋求第三方管理服務，並將我們視為該服務的主要供應商之一。

And just to give you a little bit of data there. Of the stores that left the platform, I think I know 15 of the 16 were actual sales where the stores were sold to another party who either chose to self-manage or had a different third-party management relationship. So while activity is muted, certainly, there were 15 transactions that took place that closed during the quarter.

只是為了給你一些數據。在離開平台的商店中，我想我知道這 16 家商店中有 15 家是實際銷售，商店被出售給選擇自我管理或具有不同第三方管理關係的另一方。因此，雖然活動不活躍，但本季度有 15 筆交易完成。

Our next question comes from Juan Sanabria of BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Juan Sanabria。

Just curious if you can give us the April trends. For street rates and occupancy just kind of where the spot fits. And for street rates, if you don't mind giving us how that trended year-over-year throughout the quarter, just to help contextualize?

只是好奇您是否可以告訴我們 4 月份的趨勢。對於街道價格和入住率，恰好適合該地點。對於街頭利率，如果您不介意告訴我們整個季度的同比趨勢如何，只是為了幫助背景化？

Sure. So rate trends in the first quarter, net effective rates for customers compared to that same time period last year, again, bounces around week-to-week, but range down from the low to the mid-teens. When we got, again, to March, similar trend, more in the mid-teens down in March. And then in April, as I mentioned, we've pushed rates up through today 8% since the first of the month, which is just slightly more than we did last year. So the gap to April of '22 remains in that kind of mid-teens type of range. From an occupancy perspective, we've reduced the gap to last year to -- from 150 basis points, I believe, at the end of March to 141 basis points as of yesterday.

當然。因此，第一季度的利率趨勢，與去年同期相比，客戶的淨有效利率再次每週反彈，但范圍從低到十幾歲左右。當我們再次來到 3 月時，類似的趨勢在 3 月下降了 15 多歲。然後在 4 月，正如我提到的那樣，自本月初以來，我們將利率推高至今天 8%，這僅比去年略高。所以到 22 年 4 月的差距仍然在那種十幾歲的範圍內。從入住率的角度來看，我們已經將與去年的差距縮小到——我相信，從 3 月底的 150 個基點到昨天的 141 個基點。

And then I just wanted to ask, it seems like you -- maybe you're testing in some capacity, asking customers to stay for a period of time, maybe 4 months or so. Yes. But I guess locking in that initial rate, just curious on how that testing has gone, why you chose to offer that option out. Just some thought around the strategy there would be helpful?

然後我只想問，看起來你 - 也許你正在測試某種能力，要求客戶停留一段時間，也許 4 個月左右。是的。但我想鎖定那個初始速率，只是想知道測試進行得如何，為什麼你選擇提供那個選項。只是圍繞該策略進行一些思考會有幫助嗎？

Yes. Juan, thanks. Good question. We test quite a significant number of different strategies for 2 reasons. The most important of which is we want to get a sense from the consumer as to what their behaviors are and get some additional insight through decisions they make as to how they're thinking about using our product and what's important to them. And then obviously, the second is there's always strategies around how can you maximize revenue across all of our customer segment base. That particular test would have been designed to see if a customer was more inclined to make a commitment for a longer period of time. And would they be more inclined to do so knowing what could happen in terms of their rate at the end of that 4-year -- 4 months rather, 4 year would be awesome, a 4-month time period, it's one of many different things that we have and we'll continue to test, again. It's very helpful for us from a data perspective to just get a good sense of where that customer behavior kind of shakes out. And all of these are ongoing at some point in stores throughout the portfolio.

是的。胡安，謝謝。好問題。我們出於兩個原因測試了大量不同的策略。其中最重要的是，我們希望從消費者那裡了解他們的行為，並通過他們做出的決定獲得一些額外的洞察力，了解他們如何考慮使用我們的產品以及對他們來說什麼是重要的。然後很明顯，第二個是始終圍繞如何在我們所有客戶群中最大化收入的策略。該特定測試旨在查看客戶是否更傾向於做出更長一段時間的承諾。他們是否更願意這樣做，因為他們知道在那 4 年結束時他們的利率會發生什麼——4 個月而不是 4 年會很棒，4 個月的時間段，它是許多不同的時間段之一我們擁有的東西，我們將繼續再次測試。從數據的角度來看，這對我們非常有幫助，可以很好地了解客戶行為在何處發生變化。所有這些都在某個時候在整個產品組合的商店中進行。

And just as a quick follow-up, are customers willing to sign up for the 4 months? I'm assuming you were trying to weed out customers who were just in and out for a month, but just curious on the take-up versus expectations?

作為快速跟進，客戶是否願意註冊這 4 個月？我假設您正在嘗試剔除剛進出一個月的客戶，但只是對接受率與預期的對比感到好奇？

Yes. I would say, again, it is still in process in certain properties. So the absolute answer to the question, we don't have a definitive one at this point. It certainly does attract a customer who knows or is certain, at least in their own minds that their intention is to stay longer. It also has an attraction of a customer, though, who has more certainty around the move in and move out. So you tended to see the vacates down at the end of that 4-month time period. So again, it's one of many things that we continue to test at an array of properties across the country, and we'll continue to do so to again, always try to find ways to creatively maximize revenue for each customer we get.

是的。我想再說一遍，它在某些屬性中仍在進行中。所以這個問題的絕對答案，我們目前還沒有確定的答案。它確實吸引了知道或確定的客戶，至少在他們自己看來，他們的意圖是停留更長時間。不過，它也對客戶有吸引力，他們對搬入和搬出更有把握。因此，您往往會在 4 個月的時間段結束時看到空缺率下降。再次重申，這是我們在全國各地的一系列物業中繼續測試的眾多事情之一，我們將繼續這樣做，始終嘗試找到創造性地為我們獲得的每個客戶帶來最大收入的方法。

Our next question comes from Ki Bin Kim of Truist.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Ki Bin Kim。

So to follow up on the last question, I'm curious about the cadence of demand that you saw throughout the quarter and into April. Was it a top-of-funnel type of dynamic where you just have less touch points coming in to you guys? Or was it more about market share dynamic?

因此，為了跟進最後一個問題，我很好奇您在整個季度和 4 月份看到的需求節奏。這是一種漏斗頂端類型的動態嗎？你們接觸到的接觸點更少了？或者更多的是關於市場份額動態？

Yes. From our perspective, felt like top-of-funnel demand was, as we would have expected in January and February and then was less than we would have expected in March. Now has returned to expectations.

是的。從我們的角度來看，感覺就像我們在 1 月和 2 月預期的那樣，漏斗頂部的需求低於我們 3 月的預期。現在又回到了預期。

Okay. And so will cost pick up in April?

好的。那麼 4 月份的成本會回升嗎？

What caused the decline in March, right? It's -- you certainly can look at things that occurred in March on a macro basis. And we can look at housing, for example. So one of the larger publicly traded homebuilders on their earnings call last week commented that March was unusually slow for them. They've now seen a pickup in demand in April. So was it weather, was it banking crisis, was it mortgage rates, don't know. And again, we're trying to navigate through post-COVID trends that have been anything but consistent over the last several years. '21 was odd, '22 was odd and certainly, March of '23 relative to what we would have expected was a bit odd. April seems a lot more normal.

是什麼導致了三月份的下跌，對吧？這是——你當然可以從宏觀的角度來看 3 月份發生的事情。例如，我們可以看看住房。因此，一家大型上市房屋建築商在上週的財報電話會議上評論說，3 月對他們來說異常緩慢。他們現在看到 4 月份的需求有所回升。不知道是天氣，還是銀行業危機，還是抵押貸款利率。再一次，我們正試圖通過在過去幾年中一直不一致的後 COVID 趨勢進行導航。 '21 很奇怪，'22 很奇怪，當然，'23 的三月相對於我們的預期有點奇怪。四月似乎正常多了。

Okay. And second question, I want to ask about your leverage and capital allocation. Your balance sheet is 4.4x levered, obviously in great shape. And I appreciate your press release comments about being disciplined on price. Can you just help us understand what the gap is, the bid-ask spread, how wide or narrow it might be? And if you can remind us of your latest thinking on capital allocation? Is it still from an asset quality or a market standpoint, is it still kind of demographically driven? Or has your scope widened a bit to include other assets that maybe you traditionally didn't want to own?

好的。第二個問題，我想問一下你們的槓桿和資金配置。您的資產負債表是 4.4 倍槓桿，顯然狀況良好。我感謝您在新聞稿中對價格紀律的評論。您能否幫助我們了解差距是多少，買賣差價，它可能有多寬或多窄？您是否可以提醒我們您對資本配置的最新思考？它仍然是從資產質量或市場的角度來看，它仍然是人口驅動的嗎？或者您的範圍是否有所擴大，以包括您傳統上可能不想擁有的其他資產？

Yes. It's -- we haven't changed our areas of focus, Ki Bin we are -- as we have been focused on attractive markets, typically in the top 40 MSAs, looking for those great infill complementary opportunities to our existing footprint. There are some markets that we're not in that, we would love to be, haven't found attractive opportunities to do that.

是的。這是——我們沒有改變我們的重點領域，Ki Bin 我們是——因為我們一直專注於有吸引力的市場，通常是前 40 名 MSA，尋找那些與我們現有足跡相輔相成的巨大補充機會。有一些我們不在的市場，我們很想成為，還沒有找到有吸引力的機會來做到這一點。

The bid-ask spread, it's difficult, lower amount of total transaction activity. So it's a little bit difficult to know exactly where things are because many of the things that are out there, I think are for sale at a price, and sometimes I think a crazy price. And so some of the things aren't trading at all. So it's a little bit difficult to know exactly where you are.

買賣價差，很難，總交易量較低。所以要確切地知道東西在哪裡有點困難，因為那裡的很多東西，我認為都是以一個價格出售的，有時我認為是一個瘋狂的價格。所以有些東西根本沒有交易。所以要確切地知道你在哪裡有點困難。

But I would say, we quite often end up being 15%, 20% off of where at least our broker transaction where our broker would suggest a deal needs to trade. And so that feels like a little bit of a gap but it can change. And we are -- as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we're quite active in underwriting an awful lot of opportunities. We would love to see some high-quality opportunities that were just a little bit closer to a price point that made sense for us on a risk-adjusted basis.

但我要說的是，我們通常最終會比至少我們的經紀人建議交易需要交易的經紀人交易低 15%、20%。所以這感覺有點差距，但它可以改變。而且我們 - 正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們非常積極地承銷大量機會。我們希望看到一些高質量的機會，這些機會更接近在風險調整的基礎上對我們有意義的價格點。

So where we are open for a wide spectrum of opportunities is at the right return, we would look at something that's fully stable all the way to something that just came out of the ground. So we don't have any restrictions or limitations to our desire to take on some lease up or to look at stabilized acquisitions. But the markets and the quality of the assets that we're looking for is pretty consistent from what you've heard from us for some time.

因此，在我們對廣泛的機會持開放態度的地方是正確的回報，我們會關註一些完全穩定的東西，一直到剛從地下冒出來的東西。因此，我們對租賃或考慮穩定收購的願望沒有任何限製或限制。但我們正在尋找的市場和資產質量與您一段時間以來從我們這裡聽到的情況非常一致。

That's great color. And I was asking about these other markets because lately, one of the changes that we've seen from the few companies, including you, is kind of touchless Internet-based leasing and if that would perhaps expand, what you would want to own, like in secondary markets where you can use technology versus having a lower margin business with people?

那是很棒的顏色。我問的是這些其他市場，因為最近，我們從包括您在內的少數幾家公司看到的變化之一是一種基於互聯網的非接觸式租賃，如果這可能會擴大，您會想要擁有什麼，比如在二級市場，你可以使用技術而不是與人進行利潤率較低的業務？

Yes, kind of flavor of the day, right? I mean, to me, the idea of not having an office at a store is been around since 1968. So whether it be the phone or whether it be some use of technology, the concept is not new. And so again, it's been out there. We continue to look at where that might apply certainly in the more urban and the dense suburbs it's much less applicable than it is in tertiary areas. So it's not new. Certainly, it's got a lot of -- it's generated a lot of conversation over the last several months.

是的，有點今天的味道，對吧？我的意思是，對我來說，自 1968 年以來，商店裡不設辦公室的想法就已經存在。因此，無論是電話還是技術的使用，這個概念都不是新概念。再一次，它已經在那裡了。我們繼續研究這可能適用於更城市化和人口密集的郊區，但它的適用性遠低於第三產業地區。所以這不是新的。當然，它有很多——在過去幾個月裡引發了很多對話。

Our next question comes from Hong Zhang of JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的張宏。

I guess on the personnel expense side, you talked about technology savings. Are there any further savings we should expect in that line going forward? Or do you think that's largely capped?

我想在人員費用方面，您談到了技術節約。我們應該期待在這條生產線上進一步節省費用嗎？或者你認為這在很大程度上是有上限的？

It's Chris. And we continue to look at ways to meet our customer where they want to be met in terms of closing the transaction with them. And again, no surprise, when you do focus groups and you talk to your customers, they -- at this point in the life cycle, continue to be about 1/3 each in 3 categories, which is the category of customer who is very used to using technology, is very comfortable transacting without a face-to-face interaction, it's my kids texting from their bedroom to ask what time dinner is instead of walking down the stairs and having a face-to-face conversation.

是克里斯。我們將繼續尋找方法來滿足我們的客戶，在與他們完成交易方面滿足他們的需求。再一次，毫不奇怪，當你做焦點小組並與你的客戶交談時，他們——在生命週期的這個階段，繼續在 3 個類別中各佔 1/3，這是非常重要的客戶類別習慣於使用技術，在沒有面對面互動的情況下進行交易非常自在，這是我的孩子從他們的臥室發短信詢問晚餐時間，而不是走下樓梯並進行面對面的交談。

We have another 1/3 of the customers who not surprisingly are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. They want to have a conversation. They want to interact with the store teammate. They want to know that they can ask any questions they want to a person live as they're going through their decision-making process. And then the other 1/3 kind of fall into that digital key and a hotel kind of group of folks. They're happy to use it as long as it works the way they think it should and seamlessly, if it's not, when you get to that 13th floor of the hotel and your phone doesn't work at your room, you're kind of frustrated, you want to come back down to the lobby and have a conversation and have your problem solved immediately.

我們有另外 1/3 的客戶毫不奇怪地處於完全相反的一端。他們想談談。他們想與商店隊友互動。他們想知道，在他們進行決策過程時，他們可以向一個人提出任何他們想問的問題。然後另外 1/3 的人屬於那個數字鑰匙和一群旅館的人。他們很樂意使用它，只要它按照他們認為應該的方式工作並且無縫地工作，如果不是，當你到達酒店的 13 層並且你的電話在你的房間無法工作時，你很善良沮喪的是，您想回到大廳並進行對話並立即解決您的問題。

So we're working through all of that as we do. We've obviously continued to find ways to create efficiencies, we think, while also providing the level of customer service that we're known for and we'll continue to do that. Obviously, I think the rate of savings or improvement there will slow as the fruit from the tree gets higher up.

所以我們正在努力解決所有這些問題。我們顯然一直在尋找提高效率的方法，我們認為，同時還提供我們眾所周知的客戶服務水平，我們將繼續這樣做。顯然，我認為隨著樹上的果實越來越高，那裡的儲蓄率或改善率會減慢。

Got it. And then as it relates to other property revenues, particularly late fees, it seems like post-COVID, there's just been a step function down on delinquencies and late fees. Do you think that's just the new normal given autopay and all that?

知道了。然後，由於它與其他財產收入相關，尤其是滯納金，這似乎是在 COVID 之後，拖欠和滯納金方面的階梯功能有所下降。你認為這只是自動轉賬之類的新常態嗎？

Yes. That's a great question. We definitely have seen on that side of the equation, lower revenues than we would have seen in some of the prior years. So it's a 2-part issue. One is, as I said, health of the customer is really good, which is a positive. Receivables are down, delinquencies are down, that translates into lower late fees, but a higher quality customer per se from a credit perspective.

是的。這是一個很好的問題。我們肯定已經看到等式的那一邊，收入低於我們在前幾年看到的收入。所以這是一個兩部分的問題。一是，正如我所說，客戶的健康狀況非常好，這是積極的。應收賬款下降，拖欠率下降，這意味著滯納金降低，但從信用角度來看，客戶本身質量更高。

And then on the technology side, as we can push folks into or they choose to go through smart rental or self-service rentals in some way, shape or form, talk to one of our service reps either from their phone or from a kiosk, they tend to be autopay customers. They tend to be more ACH customers. And again, they're paying on time, which is great, but the late fee will come down. Is that going to change as we go through economic cycles? I would suspect that at least the first part of that answer will as we see different parts of the economic cycle over the next couple of years.

然後在技術方面，因為我們可以推動人們進入或他們選擇以某種方式、形狀或形式通過智能租賃或自助租賃，通過他們的電話或亭與我們的一位服務代表交談，他們往往是自動轉賬客戶。他們往往是更多的 ACH 客戶。再一次，他們按時付款，這很好，但滯納金會下降。隨著我們經歷經濟周期，這種情況會改變嗎？我懷疑至少答案的第一部分會出現，因為我們會看到未來幾年經濟周期的不同部分。

Our next question comes from Spenser Allaway of Green Street.

我們的下一個問題來自 Green Street 的 Spenser Allaway。

We continue to hear that private market players are burdened with high interest expenses on construction loans. And as such, there could be looking to offload or sell some of these properties. Have you started to see these opportunities arise? Or is it still fairly quiet? I know you mentioned there were some transactions that occurred in the quarter, but just curious if you could elaborate a little bit further?

我們繼續聽說私人市場參與者背負著高昂的建築貸款利息支出。因此，可能會考慮出售或出售其中一些房產。您是否開始看到這些機會的出現？或者它仍然相當安靜？我知道你提到本季度發生了一些交易，但我想知道你是否可以進一步詳細說明？

It is -- I would say not quite yet. I mean, I think that there's a little bit of chatter. And I think it's more -- at this stage, I think it's more discussion of -- you would think that there would be some of that activity. I think the reality for our sector, when you do this throughout different parts of the cycle is that -- what that might translate into is probably some motivation. At least there might be a more motivated seller who would look to have their store clear the market versus somebody who's, as I alluded to earlier, somebody who will sell for a really high price.

它是——我會說還不完全是。我的意思是，我認為有一點喋喋不休。而且我認為它更多 - 在這個階段，我認為它更多的是討論 - 你會認為會有一些這樣的活動。我認為我們行業的現實情況是，當您在周期的不同部分執行此操作時，可能會轉化為某種動機。至少可能會有一個更有動力的賣家希望讓他們的商店出清市場，而不是像我之前提到的那樣會以非常高的價格出售的人。

So you might have a more motivated seller. I don't think you're going to have a desperate seller. I think our business is just too good. I think operating fundamentals are too good, and people have options. So they don't have to -- I don't think anybody would suspect that there would be a fire sale opportunity on a whole bunch of things for folks that are like that, but perhaps, and again, maybe more wishful thinking from our perspective, but perhaps you have a little bit more motivated seller. And if those were in opportunities and markets and high-quality assets that we're looking for, that would be fantastic for us.

所以你可能有一個更有動力的賣家。我不認為你會有一個絕望的賣家。我覺得我們的生意太好了。我認為運營基礎太好，人們有選擇權。所以他們不必 - 我認為沒有人會懷疑對於像這樣的人來說會有一大堆東西的甩賣機會，但也許，再一次，也許我們的一廂情願觀點，但也許你有一點更有動力的賣家。如果這些是我們正在尋找的機會、市場和高質量資產，那對我們來說太棒了。

Okay. That's helpful. And thank you for all the color you provided at the market level, but just maybe looking at some of the markets with lower occupancy, maybe such as Vegas and Phoenix, just curious if you have any color on operating trends in these markets or what might be driving the lower-than-average occupancy?

好的。這很有幫助。並感謝您在市場層面提供的所有顏色，但也許只是看看一些入住率較低的市場，例如維加斯和鳳凰城，只是想知道您是否對這些市場的運營趨勢有任何顏色或什麼可能導致入住率低於平均水平？

Yes. When you think about those markets, it's a return to more normal after seeing just a tremendous amount of movement, certainly a tremendous influx of folks in those markets. They would also be the markets where you saw the most aggressive push in '21 and '22 in market rate. So when you think about changes in market rate over the last couple of years, those markets in Phoenix and certainly, those markets in the Sun Belt in general, you would have saw -- seen the most significant push in rates over that time period. So I'll give you a point of example, when you just think about -- when you think about Sun Belt markets, Phoenix, for example, rates versus where we were in the first quarter of 2019 are still up about 30%, about 20% in Tucson, even you get into the South Florida markets, Miami, Fort Lauderdale are up about 44%. So just some markets that would have seen really, really strong push on rates are just starting to normalize more -- starting to normalize. And you're not seeing -- again, you're also not seeing the same movement in those markets that you would have seen in '21 and '22.

是的。當你想到這些市場時，它是在看到大量運動之後回歸正常，當然是這些市場中大量湧入的人。它們也將是您看到 21 年和 22 年市場利率最積極推動的市場。因此，當你考慮過去幾年市場利率的變化時，菲尼克斯的那些市場，當然還有整個太陽帶的那些市場，你會看到 - 看到那個時期利率的最顯著推動。所以我給你舉個例子，當你考慮 - 當你考慮太陽帶市場時，例如鳳凰城，利率與我們在 2019 年第一季度的水平相比仍然上漲了大約 30%，大約圖森上漲了 20%，即使你進入南佛羅里達市場，邁阿密和勞德代爾堡也上漲了約 44%。因此，只有一些本應看到真正、非常強大的利率推動的市場才剛剛開始更多地正常化——開始正常化。而且你沒有看到——同樣，你也沒有在那些市場中看到你在 21 年和 22 年會看到的同樣的變化。

Our next question comes from Todd Thomas of KeyBanc.

我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc 的 Todd Thomas。

I just wanted to circle back to the trends that you discussed that you experienced in March. Was that concentrated in certain geographies? Or was it more broad-based across the country, across the portfolio?

我只想回到您討論的 3 月份所經歷的趨勢。這是否集中在某些地區？還是在整個投資組合中，它在全國范圍內的基礎更廣？

Yes. It was really broad-based across the portfolio. If there's an outlier, again, in this kind of climate, it would have been the New York City borough assets, which, as I mentioned, were the assets in the market really where we saw occupancy gains over the first quarter of last year and rental rates that were in positive territory relative to the first quarter of last year, but rest of the country all kind of moved the same.

是的。它在整個投資組合中的基礎非常廣泛。如果在這種氣候下再次出現異常值，那就是紐約市自治市鎮資產，正如我提到的那樣，這些資產確實是我們在去年第一季度看到入住率增長的市場資產，與去年第一季度相比，租金處於正值區域，但該國其他地區的情況都差不多。

Okay. And so net-net, if we think about what happened, you mentioned the volatility in move-ins and move-outs, sounded like both were down, so less movement altogether, but you mentioned that asking rates or street rates did decrease a little bit. I think you were in the low double digits. You mentioned March moved into the sort of mid-teens or high teens, I believe. But net-net, how did results compare to your budget for March? Did it create a setback in any way, maybe a benefit? What happened in March as a result of that volatility.

好的。所以 net-net，如果我們考慮發生的事情，你提到了搬入和搬出的波動，聽起來兩者都下降了，所以運動量減少了，但你提到要價或街頭利率確實下降了一點少量。我想你是低兩位數。你提到三月進入了十幾歲或十幾歲，我相信。但是 net-net，結果與您 3 月份的預算相比如何？它是否以任何方式造成了挫折，也許是一種好處？由於這種波動，三月份發生了什麼。

Yes. We would have expected in March net-net, slightly better performance than what we were able to deliver.

是的。我們原本預計 3 月份的淨值比我們能夠提供的要好一些。

Okay. So results in March fell slightly below your budget sort of within the context of the year so far?

好的。那麼 3 月份的結果略低於您今年迄今為止的預算？

Yes.

是的。

Okay. And then just last question, just stepping back and looking at the guidance which you maintained, you previously talked about growth decelerating gradually throughout the year, revenue growth, right? So starting the year higher, ending the year lower. Do you see potential stabilization midyear or later in the year? I guess, has your view changed around the trajectory of growth throughout the year as we sit here today at the end of April?

好的。然後是最後一個問題，只是退後一步，看看你維持的指導，你之前談到全年增長逐漸減速，收入增長，對吧？因此，年初較高，年底較低。您是否看到年中或晚些時候可能出現穩定？我想，當我們今天 4 月底坐在這裡時，您對全年增長軌蹟的看法是否發生了變化？

No. I mean, the view has -- the view from a high level has not changed in terms of that expectation that we will continue to see some level of deceleration across the entire same-store pool as we go through the quarters. I mean, again, you look at last year, obviously, the first half of the year, the comps were more challenging than the second half.

不，我的意思是，從高層的角度來看，我們的觀點並沒有改變，即我們將在整個季度中繼續看到整個同店池的某種程度的減速。我的意思是，你再看看去年，顯然，今年上半年，比賽比下半年更具挑戰性。

Our next question comes from Jonathan Hughes of Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Jonathan Hughes。

I was hoping you could talk about performance in the 73 properties that were added to the same-store pool this year, most of which I believe is the storage West portfolio. Does that add in 50 bits or so to revenue growth, 100 basis points to NOI growth. When you -- back into metrics for those properties, it looks like almost all of that growth was from higher rents and expense savings, occupancy is almost 500 bps lower than the 2022 same-store pool. So maybe there was a rate versus occupancy trade off there, but I'm just a little surprised by the occupancy of that portfolio. Can you just update us on the outlook maybe for occupancy recovery and those properties from storage West was in the mid-90% range 18 months ago?

我希望你能談談今年添加到同店池中的 73 個屬性的性能，我認為其中大部分是存儲西部產品組合。這是否會增加 50 位左右的收入增長，100 個基點的 NOI 增長。當你——回到這些物業的指標時，看起來幾乎所有的增長都來自更高的租金和費用節省，入住率比 2022 年的同店池低近 500 個基點。因此，也許那裡存在利率與入住率的權衡，但我對該投資組合的入住率感到有些驚訝。您能否向我們更新入住率恢復的前景，而 18 個月前 storage West 的這些房產處於 90% 的中間範圍？

Yes, you're spot on. I mean, you're talking about assets in those markets. I think I responded to a previous call in some of the markets that saw a significant inflow of population and movement. We were very, very aggressive on rate, continued to be reasonably aggressive on rate as we went through the first quarter, saw a give back in terms of some of that occupancy and as we go forward here, again, we'll see how demand trends work in those markets, April through July and try to balance out where we are on the rate side versus where we are on the occupancy. But during the quarter, we absolutely were focused in on rate and we're willing to sacrifice some of the occupancy as a result.

是的，你說對了。我的意思是，你在談論那些市場中的資產。我想我回應了之前在一些市場中看到人口和流動大量流入的呼籲。我們在利率上非常非常積極，在第一季度我們繼續保持相當積極的利率，在一些入住率方面看到了回饋，當我們在這裡前進時，我們將再次看到需求如何從 4 月到 7 月，趨勢在這些市場中起作用，並試圖平衡我們在利率方面的位置與我們在入住率方面的位置。但在本季度，我們絕對專注於利率，因此我們願意犧牲一些入住率。

Okay. And was the benefit from those new stores in the pool, I mean, is that in line with the expectations at the start of the year or a surprise to the upside or downside?

好的。我的意思是，游泳池中的這些新店帶來的好處是否符合年初的預期，還是出乎意料的上行或下行？

Very much in line with the expectation at the start of the year.

非常符合年初的預期。

Okay. And then on capital allocation. You mentioned the lack of high-quality acquisition opportunities out there and talked about that in Ki Bin's question in your prepared remarks. The balance sheet is in great shape, leverage near the lower end of I think the 4 to 5x target range. Same-store NOI growth is driving organic delevering and the stock today is trading 10% below consensus NAV and a high 5% implied cap rate. So my question is if acquisition opportunities don't come to the market as hoped and that discounted valuation dynamic continues for the next 6 or 12 months, would the Board consider repurchasing shares given you have the leverage capacity?

好的。然後是資本配置。你提到那裡缺乏高質量的收購機會，並在你準備好的發言中在 Ki Bin 的問題中談到了這一點。資產負債表狀況良好，槓桿率接近我認為 4 到 5 倍目標範圍的低端。同店 NOI 增長正在推動有機去槓桿化，今天該股的交易價格比市場普遍認為的 NAV 低 10%，隱含的上限利率高達 5%。所以我的問題是，如果收購機會沒有像希望的那樣出現在市場上，並且在接下來的 6 個月或 12 個月內這種估值動態持續存在，董事會是否會考慮回購股票，因為您有槓桿能力？

Yes, I think we have an in-place program to be able to repurchase shares. We have not utilized that program yet. And I think as we've discussed before, I think there is a -- certainly, there's a time and a place to consider share repurchase program. I think for us, it is -- some of the ingredients that you touched on are there. I think it's the duration for that dislocation. We are -- we remain optimistic that we'll be able to put our high-quality balance sheet to work, to find those external growth opportunities. But if we were in the environment and it were exacerbated and it were for a longer period of time, then, of course, that's something that we would look at and consider.

是的，我認為我們有一個能夠回購股票的就地計劃。我們還沒有使用那個程序。我認為正如我們之前討論過的那樣，我認為有一個 - 當然，有時間和地點來考慮股票回購計劃。我認為對我們來說，它是——你提到的一些成分就在那裡。我認為這是錯位的持續時間。我們 - 我們仍然樂觀地認為，我們能夠讓我們的高質量資產負債表發揮作用，找到那些外部增長機會。但是，如果我們在環境中並且它惡化了並且持續了更長的時間，那麼，當然，這是我們會考慮的事情。

Our next question comes from Jeff Spector of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Jeff Spector。

Great. Chris, my first question is just on consolidation in the industry and how you're thinking about that in terms of Cube strategy or just the industry as a whole, third-party management, what type of impacts do you expect or really minimal on your portfolio?

偉大的。克里斯，我的第一個問題是關於行業的整合，以及你如何從 Cube 戰略或整個行業、第三方管理的角度考慮這一點，你期望什麼類型的影響，或者對你的影響很小文件夾？

I'm sorry, Jeff, could you try that again so I'm making sure I'm answering the specific question?

抱歉，Jeff，你能再試一次嗎，這樣我就可以確保我回答的是具體問題？

Yes. Basically, I was just asking about, given the consolidation in the industry, from your seat, how are you thinking about that in terms of your strategy? Does it change anything on the third-party management side? Or given your scale in your markets, there's really minimal impact on your business?

是的。基本上，我只是問，考慮到行業的整合，從你的角度來看，你是如何考慮你的戰略的？它對第三方管理方面有什麼改變嗎？或者考慮到您在市場中的規模，對您的業務的影響真的很小嗎？

I think when we think about just consolidation in general, again, and we can look at that from a whole bunch of different angles because certainly, today, there's more assets under third-party management than ever. There's certainly no shortage of third-party management providers, both public and private. I think when you just think about consolidation or scale or however you want to term it, I think there absolutely are benefits. But again, I think over time, when you think about Cube, our strong density and scale within our markets and our focus on building a high-quality portfolio in those top quality markets and our coverage within those markets, the scale and brand recognition that we have on a submarket level is quite significant. And I think that's where it's most impactful.

我認為，當我們再次考慮一般性整合時，我們可以從很多不同的角度來看待這一點，因為當然，今天第三方管理的資產比以往任何時候都多。公共和私人的第三方管理提供商當然不乏其人。我認為當你只考慮整合或規模，或者你想怎麼稱呼它時，我認為絕對有好處。但是，我再次認為，隨著時間的推移，當你想到 Cube 時，我們在市場中的強大密度和規模以及我們專注於在這些頂級市場建立高質量的產品組合以及我們在這些市場中的覆蓋範圍，規模和品牌認知度我們在子市場層面上非常重要。我認為這是最有影響力的地方。

I think in terms of opportunities for us, I certainly think with fewer choices, especially on the third-party side, that could create a nice opportunity for us to grow that program at perhaps a rate faster than we would have anticipated as we enter 2023.

我認為就我們的機會而言，我當然認為選擇較少，尤其是在第三方方面，這可能會為我們創造一個很好的機會，以可能比我們進入 2023 年時預期更快的速度發展該計劃.

Great. And then I just wanted to clarify kind of thinking about the second half of the year and the initial guidance. Again, it sounds like in April, things have normalized again. We've been discussing, the tougher comps or decel into the second half. And I can't remember, when you provided the initial guidance, did you say that the bottom half did reflect recession or you really didn't comment on that?

偉大的。然後我只想澄清一下關於今年下半年和初步指導的想法。再一次，聽起來像是在四月份，事情又恢復正常了。我們一直在討論，更艱難的比賽或減速進入下半場。我不記得，當你提供初步指導時，你是否說過下半部分確實反映了衰退，或者你真的沒有對此發表評論？

Didn't really tie top or bottom necessarily directly to macroeconomic conditions. I think it's a range of outcomes really based on our expectation of consumer behavior and then how that consumer behavior translates into customers for self-storage across however, the economy may move here, whether it -- and how it impacts movement basically. But nothing tied directly to one specific economic outcome.

並沒有真正將頂部或底部直接與宏觀經濟狀況聯繫起來。我認為這是一系列結果，實際上是基於我們對消費者行為的預期，以及消費者行為如何轉化為客戶進行自我存儲，然而，經濟可能會轉移到這裡，無論是——以及它如何從根本上影響移動。但沒有任何東西直接與一個特定的經濟結果掛鉤。

We now have a follow-up from Smedes Rose.

我們現在有來自 Smedes Rose 的跟進。

This is actually Nick Joseph here for Smedes. I appreciate you taking the call at the end. There was a question earlier on the impact of kind of regional banking and lending broadly on maybe acquisition opportunities. And so just curious kind of similar idea but on supply and new starts and how you'd expect those to trend maybe given the contraction in the lending environment?

這實際上是 Smedes 的 Nick Joseph。感謝您最後接聽電話。早些時候有一個問題是關於某種區域銀行和貸款對收購機會的廣泛影響。因此，只是好奇類似的想法，但關於供應和新開工，以及考慮到貸款環境的收縮，你會如何期望這些趨勢？

Yes. Certainly, what's going on in the lending environment directly impacts self-storage developers and how they think about starts or how they think about projects going forward. And I think you've got, obviously, the tailwind to new development being continued strong fundamentals within self-storage. I think, again, the headwind against that is cost, raw material and labor delays with supply chain and raw materials and certainly cost of capital, particularly the lending at the regional and local level.

是的。當然，貸款環境中發生的事情會直接影響自助存儲開發商以及他們如何看待開始或他們如何看待項目的進展。而且我認為，很明顯，新發展的順風是自助存儲領域持續強勁的基本面。我再次認為，不利因素是供應鍊和原材料的成本、原材料和勞動力延誤，當然還有資本成本，尤其是區域和地方層面的貸款。

While we've seen issues with certain banks and you've seen the larger money center banks talk about overall commercial real estate exposure, I think there are other product types that are causing a lot of problems for lenders. Self-storage is not one of them. So I think it's a healthy balance. I think it certainly puts some headwinds in front of development. And I think as a result, what we're seeing in the numbers and our expectation continues to believe that new supply will continue to slow in terms of deliveries here over '24 and '25, given where things are today.

雖然我們已經看到某些銀行存在問題，並且您已經看到較大的貨幣中心銀行談論整體商業房地產風險，但我認為還有其他產品類型給貸方帶來了很多問題。自助存儲不是其中之一。所以我認為這是一個健康的平衡。我認為這肯定會給發展帶來一些阻力。我認為，因此，我們在數字中看到的和我們的預期繼續相信，鑑於今天的情況，新供應將在 24 年和 25 年期間繼續放緩。

Our final question of the day comes from Juan Sanabria of BMO Capital Markets and it's a follow-up question.

我們今天的最後一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Juan Sanabria，這是一個後續問題。

Just on one of the points that was raised at the top of the Q&A, on the net effective in-place rates for existing customers that ticked down sequentially. I guess, how should we think about that for the balance of the year in terms of what's assumed in guidance from a modeling perspective? Is that going to now reaccelerate and tick up? Or should we expect that to continue to moderate? Or just how are you guys modeling that from your perspective?

就問答頂部提出的一個要點而言，現有客戶的淨有效就地利率依次下降。我想，我們應該如何從建模的角度根據指南中的假設來考慮這一年的餘額？那現在會重新加速嗎？或者我們應該期望它繼續緩和嗎？或者你們是如何從你的角度建模的？

Yes. We expect rates for the new customer to be at lower levels. I'm sorry, were you -- was it new customer or existing customer that you were asking about?

是的。我們預計新客戶的費率將處於較低水平。抱歉，您問的是新客戶還是現有客戶？

Existing. The in-place rent per square foot that it ticked down sequentially this quarter, just how that should evolve for the balance of the year as per your guidance or assumptions and guidance?

現存的。本季度連續下降的每平方英尺就地租金，根據您的指導或假設和指導，今年餘下時間應該如何演變？

Yes. So the existing -- the in place should grow as it normally does seasonally here throughout the balance of the year.

是的。因此，現有的 - 到位的應該會像通常在一年中的季節性增長一樣增長。

Thank you. That's all the questions we have time for, so I'll hand back over to Chris Marr for any final remarks.

謝謝。這就是我們有時間討論的所有問題，所以我將把最後的評論交還給 Chris Marr。

Thank you, and thanks for listening. Our portfolio construct, we believe, really shines in the types of markets that we're seeing and the type of economy that we're seeing right now in the United States. So really thrilled with the performance, particularly of our urban portfolio. We think that customer is -- and the customer base there really performs well in this climate. And we are looking forward to speaking to you again when we end the second quarter. So thank you, and have a great weekend.

謝謝你，也謝謝你的聆聽。我們相信，我們的投資組合結構在我們所看到的市場類型和我們目前在美國看到的經濟類型中真正閃耀。對我們的表現感到非常興奮，尤其是我們的城市投資組合。我們認為客戶是 - 那裡的客戶群在這種氣候下確實表現良好。我們期待在第二季度結束時再次與您交談。所以謝謝你，祝你周末愉快。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開線路。