Three experienced investors joined an Argus Self Storage Advisors investment webinar to talk about where the market stands. Here are the takeaways, and what they mean if you own one to three facilities.

Are we past the bottom? Cautious optimism, no straight shot up

The panel agreed the last few years were hard. New supply was heavy, demand from new customers was weak, and the economy was flat.

Panelists saw some improvement, but not a straight line up. Markets differ, and where new supply is still being absorbed, rates stay under pressure. Rates here mean achieved rates (what customers actually pay after discounts) and scheduled rates (the listed street rate).

Takeaway: 2026 looks like a reset year, not a boom. Demand has steadied, and recovery will be slow and uneven by market.

Where the opportunities are

Buyers are still finding deals. They are working harder to find them.

• Off-market deals. Some opportunities never go through a full marketing process.
• Lease-up and C of O deals. A C of O (certificate of occupancy) property is newly built and not yet leased up, meaning not yet filled with customers. Developers who missed their revenue targets are creating these. The panel urged caution: many are struggling for a reason, often an oversupplied market.
• Third-party managed facilities. Some underperform because the manager has not had time to fill new supply that opened nearby.
• Below replacement cost. Buying below what it would cost to build the same facility is a basic check many buyers skip.

Back to basics: replacement cost

A clear theme was underwriting to replacement cost, the price to build the same facility today. If you are paying well under it, new competition is harder to justify nearby. Cap rate is net operating income (NOI) divided by price.

AI helps, but site visits still win

Panelists use AI for first-pass analysis and monitoring. They agreed it does not replace walking the property.

What is keeping prices up?

Pricing on quality, stabilized facilities stayed firm despite soft fundamentals, the panel said, because the pool of buyers is deep.

Buyers also see upside in private operators with inefficient staffing or weak online marketing. Panelists said they have walked away from deals priced beyond that upside.

Management: remote, hub-and-spoke or on-site?

One panelist sees remote management working mainly in rural markets. Hub-and-spoke, where nearby facilities share staff, is more workable in cities. Another said human contact matters because customers are often storing during hard life events.

Development is still a risk

Panelists were frustrated by new construction in markets that cannot absorb it. Supply was their top worry: a poorly located facility can pull rates down for the whole market.

Secondary markets

One panelist described deals in secondary markets at cap rates of 7% to 8%.

One word for the industry

Asked for one word, the panelists said: Recalibrating, Stagnant, and Transformation.

What this means for a small owner

• Know your cap rate math. At a 7.0% cap rate, a facility earning $156,816 NOI is worth about $2.24 million. At 8.0% it is worth about $1.96 million.
• Check your in-place rates (what current tenants pay) against local street rates (what new customers are quoted) before raising rents.
• Track supply within a few miles of you. It can move your value more than any national trend.

Thinking through your options? We work with self-storage owners at every stage of the sale and investment process. Contact us to start the conversation.

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