Joseph D. Russell
President, Chief Executive Officer at Public Storage
Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Tom and I will walk you through some highlights from Q2 as well as our perspective on the second half of the year. And then we will open up the call for questions. I'd like to start by stating the obvious. Business is excellent. Move-in rates are up 27% from where they were in 2019, and there is little evidence that pricing strength is abating. A meaningful wave of new first-time customers are using storage based on a combination of traditional and nontraditional reasons. In 2021, we have welcomed nearly 700,000 new customers to our platform, many having never used self-storage before. Demand has been strong for several quarters with upward pressure tied to vibrant home sales up 34% year-over-year.
In addition, a hybrid work home environment is being planned by 68% of companies according to a recent Deloitte survey. This certainly gives us confidence that overall adoption of self-storage will continue to grow and is looked upon favorably by consumers and businesses as a cost-efficient alternative to storing goods in residential or commercial space. I'd like to step back for a moment and reflect on our May three Investor Day. The Public Storage leadership team took you behind the Orange Door and outlined several strategic initiatives. I am pleased to say many of these strategies are taking hold in 2021 and I'd like to highlight three areas that were particularly evident in our Q2 results. First, organic growth powered by innovation.
Our multiyear and continued investment in technology has allowed us to give customers what they want, an efficient and more consistent leasing experience with the support of a knowledgeable and helpful property manager when needed. Our industry-leading online eRental platform opened up an entirely new channel for customers to rent a self-storage unit and adoption has been impressive. Nearly 50% of our customers now select this option. It's fast, intuitive and simple. What's even better, the quality of the customers using this option has been excellent, and our employees have embraced it as well. We are already seeing the impact this new channel will have on labor utilization while improving customer satisfaction. This has clearly been a win-win for customers and our operations team.
In 2021, we also launched the PS storage app, giving customers a new tool to access their property via smartphone, along with the ability to manage their account, including automatic payment of rent. Second, our four-factor growth platform. Public Storage is uniquely positioned to drive growth through acquisitions, development, redevelopment and third-party management. All areas took steps forward in Q2. Acquisition volume is robust. Year-to-date, we have closed or are under contract on nearly $3 billion of assets. The $1.8 billion ezStorage portfolio closed 90 days ago, and the integration and performance of those assets has exceeded expectations. Our development and redevelopment pipeline continues to grow, up $150 million this quarter as we are seeing good opportunities to expand the largest development program in the industry.
And third-party management is growing with assets under management to 131 properties, along with a deepening pipeline of assets under review. Our goal is to reach 500 assets by 2025. We Overall, our non-same-store assets added $0.20 of FFO this quarter with NOI up 138%, driven by improving yields on both development, redevelopment and acquisitions. This 34 million square foot base of assets is now 86% occupied compared to the same-store portfolio at 96.5% with strong momentum to drive additional shareholder value. And third, the utilization of our exceptional balance sheet. This quarter, we funded $2.3 billion in transactions through bond issuances, driving down our blended cost of leverage to 3.1%.
Public Storage has the longest duration balance sheet in the REIT industry with one of the lowest cost profiles with room to fund significant additional growth. Overall, we remain optimistic about the core drivers in our business, along with the commanding capabilities tied to the Public Storage brand. Our industry-leading ownership position in core national markets, all led by a talented and committed team of professionals in every part of our business.
Now I'll hand the call over to Tom.