ELS Reports Fourth Quarter Results

Introduces 2021 Earnings Guidance and Increases Annual Dividend

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE: ELS) (referred to herein as “we,” “us,” and “our”) today announced results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2020.

All Common Stock and OP Units as well as per share results reflect the two for one stock split that was completed on October 15, 2019. Additionally, all per share results are reported on a fully diluted basis unless otherwise noted.

Financial Results for the Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2020

For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, total revenues increased $13.3 million, or 5.1 percent, to $271.9 million compared to $258.6 million for the same period in 2019. For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, net income available for Common Stockholders increased $9.6 million, or $0.05 per Common Share, to $64.6 million, or $0.35 per Common Share, compared to $55.0 million, or $0.30 per Common Share, for the same period in 2019.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, total revenues increased $54.1 million, or 5.2 percent, to $1,091.4 million compared to $1,037.3 million for the same period in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, net income available for Common Stockholders decreased $50.8 million, or $0.29 per Common Share, to $228.3 million, or $1.25 per Common Share, compared to $279.1 million, or $1.54 per Common Share, for the same period in 2019. The financial results for 2019 included a gain of $52.5 million on the sale of five all-age MH communities.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Portfolio Performance

For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, Funds from Operations (“FFO”) available for Common Stock and OP Unit holders increased $9.4 million, or $0.05 per Common Share, to $108.9 million, or $0.57 per Common Share, compared to $99.5 million, or $0.52 per Common Share, for the same period in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, FFO available for Common Stock and OP Unit holders increased $0.4 million, to $406.4 million, or $2.11 per Common Share, compared to $406.0 million, or $2.11 per Common Share, for the same period in 2019.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, Normalized Funds from Operations (“Normalized FFO”) available for Common Stock and OP Unit holders increased $9.4 million, or $0.05 per Common Share, to $108.9 million, or $0.57 per Common Share, compared to $99.5 million, or $0.52 per Common Share, for the same period in 2019. For the years ended December 31, 2020, Normalized FFO available for Common Stock and OP Unit holders increased $16.9 million, or $0.08 per Common Share, to $418.7 million, or $2.17 per Common Share, compared to $401.8 million, or $2.09 per Common Share, for the same period in 2019.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, property operating revenues, excluding deferrals, increased $13.2 million to $261.9 million compared to $248.7 million for the same period in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, property operating revenues, excluding deferrals, increased $54.9 million to $1,051.4 million compared to $996.5 million for the same period in 2019. For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, income from property operations, excluding deferrals and property management, increased $5.9 million to $152.9 million compared to $147.0 million for the same period in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, income from property operations, excluding deferrals and property management, increased $25.4 million to $606.8 million compared to $581.4 million for the same period in 2019.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, Core property operating revenues, excluding deferrals, increased approximately 4.6 percent and Core income from property operations, excluding deferrals and property management, increased approximately 3.6 percent compared to the same period in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, Core property operating revenues, excluding deferrals, increased approximately 3.9 percent and Core income from property operations, excluding deferrals and property management, increased approximately 2.9 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

Business Updates

Page 1 of this Earnings Release and Supplemental Financial Information provides an operations update.

Investment Activity

Since October 2020, we have completed the following acquisitions, representing a total investment of $214.5 million:

• Dolce Vita at Superstition Mountain, a 484-site age-qualified MH community with entitlements to an additional 228 sites for development, and Meridian RV Resort, a 264-site RV community, in Apache Junction, Arizona,
• Leisure World RV Resort, a 333-site RV community, and Trails End RV Resort, a 362-site RV community, located in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas,
• Harbor Point RV Community, a 203-site RV community located in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, and Topsail Sound RV Park, a 230-site RV community located in Holly Ridge, North Carolina, both are coastal and less than four miles apart,
• Marker 1 Marina, a 477-slip marina located near Tampa, Florida, and
• Okeechobee KOA Resort, a 740-site RV community located in Okeechobee, Florida, acquired in January 2021.

The acquisition of these properties was funded with available cash and our line of credit, as well as a loan assumption of $6.9 million.

We also completed the acquisition of our joint venture partners' interests in a 64-acre MH development property adjacent to our Voyager RV Resort located in Tucson, Arizona for $6.1 million, which was funded with available cash. Once the development is completed, it is expected to contain approximately 300 sites.

As part of our strategy to expand owned communities with additional developed sites, in November and December of 2020, we completed the acquisitions of three parcels of land adjacent to three of our properties for an aggregate purchase price of $4.3 million, which was funded with available cash.

2021 Full Year Guidance (1)

2021 Dividends

Our Board of Directors has approved setting the annual dividend rate for 2021 at $1.45 per share of common stock, an increase of 5.8%, or $0.08, over the current $1.37 per share of common stock for 2020. Our Board of Directors, in its sole discretion, will determine the amount of each quarterly dividend in advance of payment.

Balance Sheet Activity

During January 2021, we locked rate on an anticipated $270.0 million secured financing transaction. Upon consummation, which is subject to customary closing conditions, the loan is anticipated to be secured by two RV communities and one MH community and is expected to have a maturity of 10 years and a fixed interest rate of 2.4%. We plan to use net proceeds from the transaction to repay a portion of our debt maturing in 2022 and to apply the remaining proceeds to the outstanding balance on our line of credit.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (“REIT”) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 25, 2021, we own or have an interest in 423 quality properties in 33 states and British Columbia consisting of 161,229 sites.

For additional information, please contact our Investor Relations Department at (800) 247-5279 or at investor_relations@equitylifestyle.com .

Conference Call

A live webcast of our conference call discussing these results will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. Central Time. Please visit the Investor Relations section at www.equitylifestyleproperties.com for the link. A replay of the webcast will be available for two weeks at this site.

Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to historical information, this press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used, words such as "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "project," "intend," "may be" and "will be" and similar words or phrases, or the negative thereof, unless the context requires otherwise, are intended to identify forward-looking statements and may include without limitation, information regarding our expectations, goals or intentions regarding the future, and the expected effect of our acquisitions. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to:

• our ability to control costs and real estate market conditions, our ability to retain customers, the actual use of sites by customers and our success in acquiring new customers at our properties (including those that we may acquire);
• our ability to maintain historical or increase future rental rates and occupancy with respect to properties currently owned or that we may acquire;
• our ability to attract and retain customers entering, renewing and upgrading membership subscriptions;
• our assumptions about rental and home sales markets;
• our assumptions and guidance concerning 2021 growth rates and Net Income and Normalized FFO per share data;
• our ability to manage counterparty risk;
• our ability to renew our insurance policies at existing rates and on consistent terms;
• in the age-qualified properties, home sales results could be impacted by the ability of potential home buyers to sell their existing residences as well as by financial, credit and capital markets volatility;
• results from home sales and occupancy will continue to be impacted by local economic conditions, lack of affordable manufactured home financing and competition from alternative housing options including site-built single-family housing;
• impact of government intervention to stabilize site-built single-family housing and not manufactured housing;
• effective integration of recent acquisitions and our estimates regarding the future performance of recent acquisitions;
• the completion of future transactions in their entirety, if any, and timing and effective integration with respect thereto;
• unanticipated costs or unforeseen liabilities associated with recent acquisitions;
• our ability to obtain financing or refinance existing debt on favorable terms or at all;
• the effect of interest rates;
• the effect from any breach of our, or any of our vendors', data management systems;
• the dilutive effects of issuing additional securities;
• the outcome of pending or future lawsuits or actions brought against us, including those disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission; and
• other risks indicated from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Our guidance acknowledges the existence of volatile economic conditions, which may impact our current guidance assumptions. Factors impacting 2021 guidance include, but are not limited to the following: (i) the mix of site usage within the portfolio; (ii) yield management on our short-term resort and marina sites; (iii) scheduled or implemented rate increases on community, resort and marina sites; (iv) scheduled or implemented rate increases in annual payments under membership subscriptions; (v) occupancy changes; (vi) our ability to attract and retain membership customers; (vii) our ability to integrate and operate recent acquisitions in accordance with our estimates; (viii) completion of pending transactions in their entirety and on assumed schedule; (ix) ongoing legal matters and related fees; and (x) costs to restore property operations and potential revenue losses following storms or other unplanned events. In addition, these forward-looking statements, including our 2021 guidance are subject to risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of which are unknown, including the duration of the pandemic, the extent of the adverse health impact on the general population and on our residents, customers, and employees in particular, its impact on the employment rate and the economy, the extent and impact of governmental responses, and the impact of operational changes we have implemented and may implement in response to the pandemic.

For further information on these and other factors that could impact us and the statements contained herein, refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the “Risk Factors” section in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's present expectations and beliefs about future events. As with any projection or forecast, these statements are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. We are under no obligation to, and expressly disclaim any obligation to, update or alter our forward-looking statements whether as a result of such changes, new information, subsequent events or otherwise.

Supplemental Financial Information

Operations Update

We continued our strong performance in 2020, as marked by these key operational and financial accomplishments:

• Added 1,058 expansion Sites including 549 MH Sites to our Core Portfolio during the year ended December 31, 2020.
• MH occupancy within our Core Portfolio increased by 293 Sites to 68,869 Sites as of December 31, 2020, with a weighted average occupancy of 95.2% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to 95.1% for the year ended December 31, 2019.
• Manufactured homeowners within our Core Portfolio increased by 345 to 64,945 as of December 31, 2020 compared to 64,600 as of December 31, 2019.
• MH and RV rental income within our Core Portfolio increased by 4.6% and 1.1%, respectively, compared to December 31, 2019.
• Core Portfolio generated full year growth of 2.9% in income from property operations, excluding deferrals and property management, compared to 2019.
• Normalized FFO per common share on a fully diluted basis was $2.17, 3.9% higher than in December 31, 2019.
• Acquired one MH community, seven RV communities and one marina for $209.2 million.
• Originated secured debt with gross proceeds of $662.3 million with an average maturity of 12 years and a weighted average interest rate of 2.6%. We used these proceeds to repay debt of $414.9 million at a weighted average rate of 4.1% with a remaining weighted average maturity of 1.9 years. The remainder of the proceeds were used to repay the line of credit throughout the year.

COVID Update

• All properties continue to be open subject to seasons of operation and state and local guidelines.
  • Some amenities at certain properties remain closed at this time due to state and local guidelines.
  • All RV properties continue to be open to transient customers.
• As of January 22, 2021, the total collection rates from our MH and RV Annuals for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 were 98% and 99%, respectively. We continue to follow various state and local guidelines related to rent collections and eviction proceedings.
• Seasonal RV base rental income within our Core Portfolio decreased 24.7%, or approximately $2.0 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. The decrease was primarily due to the closure of the Canadian border.