SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc. (SMA)

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial data contained elsewhere in this report. The following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should also be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025. See also “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” preceding Part I.

Overview

SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company”), is a self-managed and fully-integrated self storage real estate investment trust (“REIT”), formed on January 8, 2013 under the Maryland General Corporation Law. Our year-end is December 31. As used in this report, “we,” “us,” “our,” and “Company” refer to SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc. and each of our subsidiaries. Our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the ticker symbol “SMA” on April 2, 2025.

We focus on the acquisition, ownership, and operation of self storage properties located primarily within the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, throughout the United States and Canada. Based on the Inside Self Storage Top-Operators List ranking for 2025, and before accounting for the acquisition of Argus (defined below) and recent market transactions, we were the 10th largest owner and operator of self storage properties in the United States based on rentable square footage.

As of June 30, 2026, our wholly-owned portfolio consisted of 180 operating self storage properties diversified across 19 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, comprising approximately 124,000 units and 14.1 million net rentable square feet.

Additionally, as of June 30, 2026, we owned a 50% equity interest in 14 unconsolidated real estate ventures located in Canada, which consisted of 10 operating self storage properties and four properties that were being developed into self storage properties.

Through our Managed Platform (as defined below), we serve as the sponsor of Strategic Storage Trust VI, Inc., a publicly-registered non-traded REIT (“SST VI”), Strategic Storage Growth Trust III, Inc., a private REIT (“SSGT III”), and Strategic Storage Trust X, a private net asset value REIT, (“SST X” and together with SST VI and SSGT III, the “Managed REITs”). We manage the properties owned by the Managed REITs and the properties owned by the Delaware statutory trusts (“DSTs”) sponsored by one of the Managed REITs. As of June 30, 2026, we managed 52 of such operating self storage properties, consisting of approximately 43,000 units and 4.6 million rentable square feet.

On October 1, 2025, we acquired Argus Professional Storage Management, LLC (“Argus”), a third-party manager of self storage properties (the “Third Party Platform Acquisition”). See Note 4 – Third Party Platform Acquisition of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. As of June 30, 2026, we managed approximately 220 of such operating self storage properties, consisting of approximately 100,000 units and 15.7 million rentable square feet (the “Third Party Platform”).

The Third Party Platform, the Managed REITs and the properties owned by the DSTs sponsored by one of the Managed REITs are collectively referred to as the “Managed Platform.” In total, as of June 30, 2026, we managed approximately 270 operating self storage properties, which we did not own, consisting of approximately 143,000 units and 20.3 million rentable square feet through our Managed Platform.

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Our primary business model is focused on owning and operating high quality self storage properties in high growth markets in the United States and Canada. We finance our portfolio through a diverse capital strategy which includes cash generated from operations, borrowings under our syndicated revolving line of credit, secured and unsecured debt financing, equity offerings and joint ventures. Our business model is designed to maximize cash flow available for distribution to our stockholders and to achieve sustainable long-term growth in cash flow in order to maximize long-term stockholder value at acceptable levels of risk. We execute our organic growth strategy by pursuing revenue-optimizing and expense-minimizing opportunities in the operations of our existing portfolio. We execute our external growth strategy by developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing self storage facilities in the United States and Canada both internally and through our Managed Platform, and we look to acquire properties that are physically stabilized, recently developed, in various stages of lease up or at certificate of occupancy. We seek to acquire undermanaged facilities that are not operated by institutional operators, where we can implement our proprietary management and technology to maximize net operating income.

On October 1, 2025, pursuant to a contribution agreement (the “Contribution Agreement”), we acquired Argus. The principal assets acquired were property management contracts covering the management of more than 220 properties and 400 employees, and an operating lease for Argus’ corporate headquarters in Tucson, Arizona and other intellectual and personal property.

Additionally, we plan to continue to expand our third-party management platform in both Canada and the United States by scaling our Third Party Platform or through additional investments in or acquisitions of third-party management firms.

We have provided financing to the Managed REITs in the form of mezzanine loans, bridge loans, promissory notes, and preferred equity as applicable. We intend to continue in this practice going forward, if necessary. We continue to look to further expand our lending practice to self storage facilities outside of the Managed REITs, to third party managed properties or joint venture properties. We may enter into joint ventures or other forms of co-investments in order to scale our overall property count and diversify our portfolio of properties. Joint ventures may also allow us to acquire an interest in a property without requiring that we fund the entire purchase price, but for which we would target being the property manager, both in the U.S. and Canada.

As an operating business, self storage requires a much greater focus on strategic planning and tactical operation plans. Our in-house call center allows us to centralize our sales efforts as we capture new business over the phone, email, web-based chat, and text mediums. As we have grown our portfolio of self storage facilities, we have been able to consolidate and streamline a number of aspects of our operations through economies of scale. We also utilize our digital marketing breadth and expertise which allows us to acquire customers efficiently by leveraging our portfolio size and technological proficiency. To the extent we acquired facilities in clusters within geographic regions, we see property management efficiencies resulting in reduction of personnel and other operational costs.

In addition, we have the internal capability to originate, structure and manage additional self storage investment programs or Managed REITs, which would be sponsored by SmartStop REIT Advisors, LLC (“SRA”), our indirect subsidiary. We acquired such capability in 2019 from Strategic Asset Management I, LLC, our former sponsor (“SAM”). We generate asset management fees, property management fees, acquisition fees, and other fees and also receive substantially all of the tenant protection program revenue earned by our Managed REITs, as applicable. For the property management and advisory services that we provide, we are reimbursed for certain expenses that otherwise helps to offset our net operating expense burden. We primarily generate property management fees and receive a portion of the tenant protection program revenue from our third-party owners and are reimbursed for certain costs incurred by our Third Party Platform, as applicable.

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Wholly-Owned Properties

As of June 30, 2026, our wholly-owned operating self storage portfolio was composed as follows:

(1)
Includes all rentable units, consisting of storage units and parking (approximately 3,600 units).

(2)
Includes all rentable square feet, consisting of storage units and parking (approximately 1,120,000 square feet).

(3)
Represents the occupied square feet of all facilities we owned in a state or province divided by total rentable square feet of all

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial data contained within this Form 10-K, and our accompanying consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto. See also “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” preceding Part I.

Overview

We are a self-managed and fully-integrated self storage real estate investment trust (“REIT”). Our year end is December 31. As used in this report, “we,” “us,” “our,” and “Company” refer to SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc. and each of our subsidiaries. Our Common Stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the ticker symbol “SMA” on April 2, 2025.

We focus on the acquisition, ownership, and operation of self storage properties located primarily within the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, throughout the United States and Canada. Based on the Inside Self Storage Top-Operators List ranking for 2025, and after accounting for recent market transactions, we are the 10th largest owner and operator of self storage properties in the United States based on rentable square footage. As of December 31, 2025, our wholly-owned portfolio consisted of 177 operating self storage properties diversified across 19 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada comprising approximately 122,000 units and 13.9 million net rentable square feet. Additionally, we owned a 50% equity interest in 13 unconsolidated real estate ventures located in Canada, which consisted of 10 operating self storage properties and three properties which were being developed into self storage properties as of December 31, 2025.

Further, through our Managed Platform (as defined below), we serve as the sponsor of Strategic Storage Trust VI, Inc., a publicly-registered non-traded REIT (“SST VI”), Strategic Storage Growth Trust III, Inc., a private REIT (“SSGT III”), and Strategic Storage Trust X, a private net asset value REIT launched in January 2025, (“SST X” and together with SST VI and SSGT III, the “Managed REITs”). We manage the properties owned by the Managed REITs. Inclusive of the properties owned by the Managed REITs and the properties owned by Delaware statutory trusts (“DSTs”) sponsored by one of the Managed REITs, in total, as of December 31, 2025, we managed 52 of such operating self storage properties, consisting of approximately 41,000 units and 4.5 million rentable square feet.

Effective October 1, 2025, we acquired Argus Professional Storage Management, LLC (“Argus”), a third-party manager of self storage properties (the “Third Party Platform Acquisition”). See Note 4 – Third Party Platform Acquisition of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. As such, as of December 31, 2025, we managed an additional 221 of such properties, consisting of more than approximately 98,000 units and 15.9 million rentable square feet (the “Third Party Platform”). The Third Party Platform, the Managed REITs, and the other properties operated by us as mentioned above, are referred to as the “Managed Platform.”

In total, as of December 31, 2025, we managed 273 operating self storage properties, which we did not own, consisting of approximately 140,000 units and 20.4 million rentable square feet through our Managed Platform.

Our primary business model is focused on owning and operating high quality self storage properties in high growth markets in the United States and Canada. We finance our portfolio through a diverse capital strategy which includes cash generated from operations, borrowings under our syndicated revolving line of credit, secured and unsecured debt financing, equity offerings and joint ventures. Our business model is designed to maximize cash flow available for distribution to our stockholders and to achieve sustainable long-term growth in cash flow in order to maximize long-term stockholder value at acceptable levels of risk. We execute our organic growth strategy by pursuing revenue-optimizing and expense-minimizing opportunities in the operations of our existing portfolio. We execute our external growth strategy by developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing self storage facilities in the United States and Canada both internally and through our Managed Platform, and we look to acquire properties that are physically stabilized, recently developed, in various stages of lease up or at certificate of occupancy. We seek to acquire undermanaged facilities that are not operated by institutional operators, where we can implement our proprietary management and technology to maximize net operating income.

We acquired Argus pursuant to a contribution agreement (the “Contribution Agreement”). The principal assets acquired were property management contracts, covering the management of more than 221 properties and 400 employees (as of October 1, 2025) and an operating lease for their corporate headquarters in Tucson, Arizona and other intellectual and personal property.

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Additionally, we plan to continue to expand our third-party management platform in both Canada and the United States, by scaling our Third Party Platform or through additional investments in or acquisitions of third-party management firms.

We have provided financing to the Managed REITs in the form of mezzanine loans, bridge loans, promissory notes, and preferred equity as applicable. We intend to continue in this practice going forward, if necessary. We may look to further expand our lending practice to self storage facilities outside of the Managed REITs, potentially to third party managed properties or joint venture properties. We may enter into joint ventures or other forms of co-investments in order to scale our overall property count and diversify our portfolio of properties. Joint ventures may also allow us to acquire an interest in a property without requiring that we fund the entire purchase price, but for which we would target being the property manager, both in the U.S. and Canada.

As an operating business, self storage requires a much greater focus on strategic planning and tactical operation plans. Our in-house call center allows us to centralize our sales efforts as we capture new business over the phone, email, web-based chat, and text mediums. As we have grown our portfolio of self storage facilities, we have been able to consolidate and streamline a number of aspects of our operations through economies of scale. We also utilize our digital marketing breadth and expertise which allows us to acquire customers efficiently by leveraging our portfolio size and technological proficiency. To the extent we acquired facilities in clusters within geographic regions, we see property management efficiencies resulting in reduction of personnel and other administrative costs.

In addition, we have the internal capability to originate, structure and manage additional self storage investment programs or Managed REITs, which would be sponsored by SmartStop REIT Advisors, LLC (“SRA”), our indirect subsidiary. We acquired such capability in 2019 from Strategic Asset Management I, LLC (f/k/a SmartStop Asset Management, LLC), our former sponsor (“SAM”). We generate asset management fees, property management fees, acquisition fees and other fees and also receive substantially all of the tenant protection program revenue earned by our Managed REITs, as applicable. For the property management and advisory services that we provide, we are reimbursed for certain expenses that otherwise help to offset our net operating expense burden. We primarily generate property management fees and receive a portion of the tenant protection program revenue from our third party owners and are reimbursed for certain costs incurred by our Third Party Platform, as applicable.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We have established accounting policies which conform to generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Preparing financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to use judgment in the application of accounting policies, including making estimates and assumptions. Following is a discussion of the estimates and assumptions used in setting accounting policies that we consider critical in the presentation of our consolidated financial statements. Many estimates and assumptions involved in the application of GAAP may have a material impact on our financial condition or operating performance, or on the comparability of such information to amounts reported for other periods, because of the subjectivity and judgment required to account for highly uncertain items or the susceptibility of such items to change. These estimates and assumptions affect our reported amounts of assets and liabilities, our disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial statements and our reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the period covered by this report. If management’s judgment or interpretation of the facts and circumstances relating to various transactions had been different, it is possible that different accounting policies would have been applied or different amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses would have been recorded, thus resulting in a materially different presentation of the financial statements or materially different amounts being reported in the financial statements. Additionally, other companies may use different estimates and assumptions that may impact the comparability of our financial condition and results of operations to those companies.

We believe that our critical accounting policies include the following: real estate acquisition valuation; the evaluation of whether any of our long-lived assets have been impaired; the valuation of goodwill and related impairment considerations, the valuation of our trademarks and related impairment considerations; and the evaluation of the consolidation of our interests in joint ventures. The following discussion of these policies supplements, but does not supplant the description of our significant accounting policies, as contained in Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, and is intended to present our analysis of the uncertainties involved in arriving upon and applying each policy.

Real Estate Purchase Price Allocation and Treatment of Acquisition Costs

We account for asset acquisitions in accordance with GAAP which requires that we allocate the purchase price of a property to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and the liabilities assumed based on their relative fair values as of the

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date of acquisition. This guidance requires us to make significant estimates and assumptions, including fair value estimates, which requires the use of significant unobservable inputs as of the acquisition date. We engage independent third-party valuation specialists to assist in the determination of significant estimates and market-based assumptions used in the valuation models. Our allocations of purchase prices are based on certain significant estimates and assumptions, variations in such estimates and assumptions could result in a materially different presentation of the consolidated financial statements or materially different amounts being reported in the consolidated financial statements.

The value of the tangible assets, consisting of land and buildings, is determined as if vacant. Substantially all of the leases in place at acquired properties are at market rates, as the majority of the leases are month-to-month contracts. We also consider whether in-place, market leases represent an intangible asset.

Allocation of purchase price to acquisitions of portfolios of facilities are allocated to the individual facilities based upon an income approach or a cash flow analysis using appropriate risk adj

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