Self-Storage

Editor’s Note: This is a 2026 update from a series post­ed in 2022.

Introduction

Few com­mer­cial real estate sec­tors have demon­strat­ed the con­sis­ten­cy and resilience of self-stor­age over the past sev­er­al decades. Once viewed as a niche asset class dom­i­nat­ed by local oper­a­tors, self-stor­age has evolved into a sophis­ti­cat­ed insti­tu­tion­al real estate sec­tor attract­ing bil­lions of dol­lars from REITs, pri­vate equi­ty firms, pen­sion funds, fam­i­ly offices, and Delaware Statu­to­ry Trust (DST) spon­sors.

“Self-stor­age has become one of the most durable and oper­a­tional­ly effi­cient asset class­es in com­mer­cial real estate,” says Al DiNi­co­la. “The sec­tor ben­e­fits from mul­ti­ple demand dri­vers while main­tain­ing rel­a­tive­ly low oper­at­ing costs com­pared to many oth­er prop­er­ty types.”

For investors seek­ing diver­si­fi­ca­tion, income poten­tial, and expo­sure to a non-tra­di­tion­al com­mer­cial real estate asset, self-stor­age con­tin­ues to be a com­pelling option.

Understanding the Self-Storage Business

At its core, self-stor­age is a sim­ple busi­ness mod­el. Prop­er­ty own­ers lease stor­age units to indi­vid­u­als and busi­ness­es seek­ing addi­tion­al space for per­son­al belong­ings, inven­to­ry, equip­ment, vehi­cles, records, or house­hold goods.

What makes the asset class unique is its flex­i­bil­i­ty. Unlike office, retail, or indus­tri­al prop­er­ties that often rely on long-term leas­es, self-stor­age oper­a­tors can adjust rental rates quick­ly based on mar­ket con­di­tions.

“One of the major advan­tages of self-stor­age is the abil­i­ty to reprice units fre­quent­ly,” explains DiNi­co­la. “That flex­i­bil­i­ty can be valu­able dur­ing infla­tion­ary peri­ods.”

The result is an asset class that often responds more quick­ly to chang­ing eco­nom­ic con­di­tions than many tra­di­tion­al com­mer­cial real estate sec­tors.

Why Self-Storage Has Performed Well

Self-stor­age has ben­e­fit­ed from a vari­ety of eco­nom­ic and demo­graph­ic trends.

Americans Have More Possessions Than Ever

The sim­plest expla­na­tion remains one of the strongest.

“We con­tin­ue to accu­mu­late more pos­ses­sions than our homes can com­fort­ably accom­mo­date,” notes DiNi­co­la.

Whether due to:

• Down­siz­ing
• Relo­ca­tion
• Mar­riage
• Divorce
• Inher­i­tance
• Busi­ness growth
• Life tran­si­tions

the need for addi­tion­al stor­age space remains sur­pris­ing­ly per­sis­tent.

Indus­try stud­ies con­tin­ue to show that many cus­tomers main­tain stor­age units for years rather than months.

Life Events Drive Demand

Many real estate sec­tors depend heav­i­ly on eco­nom­ic expan­sion. Self-stor­age ben­e­fits from both pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive life events.

Demand fre­quent­ly increas­es dur­ing:

• Home pur­chas­es
• Home sales
• Job relo­ca­tions
• Col­lege atten­dance
• Retire­ment
• Divorce
• Estate set­tle­ments

This diver­si­ty of demand dri­vers has con­tributed to the sector’s long-term sta­bil­i­ty.

Industry Evolution

His­tor­i­cal­ly, self-stor­age was dom­i­nat­ed by local “mom-and-pop” oper­a­tors.

Today, the sec­tor has become increas­ing­ly insti­tu­tion­al­ized. Large pub­lic REITs, pri­vate oper­a­tors, and DST spon­sors con­tin­ue acquir­ing facil­i­ties across the coun­try.

“Con­sol­i­da­tion remains one of the major themes in self-stor­age,” says DiNi­co­la. “Many small­er oper­a­tors con­tin­ue to be acqui­si­tion tar­gets for larg­er insti­tu­tion­al own­ers.”

Despite indus­try con­sol­i­da­tion, a sig­nif­i­cant per­cent­age of facil­i­ties are still owned by inde­pen­dent oper­a­tors, cre­at­ing ongo­ing acqui­si­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Modern Self-Storage Facilities

Today’s facil­i­ties look very dif­fer­ent from many of the stor­age prop­er­ties devel­oped twen­ty years ago.

Mod­ern facil­i­ties increas­ing­ly include:

• Cli­mate-con­trolled units
• Enhanced secu­ri­ty sys­tems
• Smart­phone access con­trol
• Auto­mat­ed leas­ing plat­forms
• Pack­age accep­tance ser­vices
• Busi­ness stor­age solu­tions
• Vehi­cle stor­age
• RV and boat stor­age

“Today’s cus­tomer expects con­ve­nience, tech­nol­o­gy, and secu­ri­ty,” explains DiNi­co­la. “Oper­a­tors that deliv­er those fea­tures often achieve stronger occu­pan­cy and pric­ing pow­er.”

Climate-Controlled Storage

One of the most sig­nif­i­cant indus­try trends has been the growth of cli­mate-con­trolled facil­i­ties.

These units help pro­tect:

• Fur­ni­ture
• Elec­tron­ics
• Art­work
• Doc­u­ments
• Col­lectibles
• Busi­ness inven­to­ry

Cli­mate-con­trolled units typ­i­cal­ly com­mand pre­mi­um rental rates while attract­ing longer-term ten­ants.

In many Sun Belt mar­kets, cli­mate-con­trolled stor­age has become the pre­ferred prod­uct type.

Population Growth Remains Critical

Like most real estate sec­tors, self-stor­age ben­e­fits from pop­u­la­tion growth.

Mar­kets expe­ri­enc­ing:

• Job cre­ation
• House­hold for­ma­tion
• Cor­po­rate relo­ca­tions
• Res­i­den­tial devel­op­ment

often demon­strate stronger long-term stor­age demand.

“Pop­u­la­tion growth cre­ates hous­ing demand, busi­ness for­ma­tion, and con­sumer activity—all of which sup­port self-stor­age uti­liza­tion,” says DiNi­co­la.

Many DST spon­sors focus on high-growth mar­kets where demo­graph­ic trends sup­port future occu­pan­cy and rental growth.

Sun Belt Markets Continue to Lead

Many of the strongest self-stor­age mar­kets con­tin­ue to be con­cen­trat­ed in the Sun Belt.

These include:

• Flori­da
• Texas
• Ari­zona
• Ten­nessee
• North Car­oli­na
• South Car­oli­na
• Geor­gia

Migra­tion pat­terns con­tin­ue to sup­port both res­i­den­tial and com­mer­cial stor­age demand.

Retirees, remote work­ers, and cor­po­rate relo­ca­tions have con­tributed to pop­u­la­tion growth through­out many of these mar­kets.

Urban and Suburban Demand

Ear­li­er indus­try growth was often asso­ci­at­ed with dense urban loca­tions.

Today, both urban and sub­ur­ban mar­kets can sup­port suc­cess­ful self-stor­age facil­i­ties.

Urban demand is often dri­ven by:

• Small­er apart­ment sizes
• Lim­it­ed park­ing
• Lack of stor­age space

Sub­ur­ban demand is often sup­port­ed by:

• Pop­u­la­tion growth
• House­hold for­ma­tion
• Res­i­den­tial turnover
• Small busi­ness activ­i­ty

“The strongest oppor­tu­ni­ties are often found where sup­ply remains ratio­nal and pop­u­la­tion growth remains healthy,” notes DiNi­co­la.

Technology Is Transforming Operations

Tech­nol­o­gy has sig­nif­i­cant­ly improved oper­a­tional effi­cien­cy.

Many facil­i­ties now offer:

• Online reser­va­tions
• Dig­i­tal leas­es
• Remote move-ins
• Con­tact­less access
• Mobile appli­ca­tions
• AI-pow­ered cus­tomer ser­vice

Advanced rev­enue man­age­ment soft­ware helps oper­a­tors opti­mize occu­pan­cy and rental pric­ing.

“Tech­nol­o­gy has improved both the cus­tomer expe­ri­ence and the prof­itabil­i­ty of the busi­ness,” says DiNi­co­la.

Self-Storage and E‑Commerce

An emerg­ing trend involves small busi­ness and e‑commerce usage.

Many entre­pre­neurs uti­lize stor­age units for:

• Inven­to­ry man­age­ment
• Online retail oper­a­tions
• Equip­ment stor­age
• Busi­ness records

The growth of e‑commerce and small busi­ness for­ma­tion has cre­at­ed an addi­tion­al source of demand beyond tra­di­tion­al res­i­den­tial cus­tomers.

Self-Storage in DST Offerings

Self-stor­age con­tin­ues to gain pop­u­lar­i­ty with­in the DST mar­ket­place.

Offer­ings may include:

Single Property DSTs

• One sta­bi­lized facil­i­ty
• Typ­i­cal­ly small­er equi­ty rais­es
• Con­cen­trat­ed mar­ket expo­sure

Portfolio DSTs

• Mul­ti­ple facil­i­ties
• Geo­graph­ic diver­si­fi­ca­tion
• Larg­er offer­ings
• Broad­er mar­ket expo­sure

Many DST spon­sors are ver­ti­cal­ly inte­grat­ed with affil­i­at­ed oper­at­ing com­pa­nies and REITs.

“Some spon­sors have devel­oped strong self-stor­age plat­forms that encom­pass acqui­si­tion, man­age­ment, devel­op­ment, and even­tu­al dis­po­si­tion strate­gies,” explains DiNi­co­la.

Key Risks Investors Should Understand

Although self-stor­age has per­formed well his­tor­i­cal­ly, investors should eval­u­ate sev­er­al risks.

New Supply

Over­build­ing can pres­sure occu­pan­cy and rental growth.

Market Selection

Not every mar­ket exhibits the same demand dri­vers.

Property Age

Old­er facil­i­ties may require upgrades and cap­i­tal expen­di­tures.

Sponsor Experience

The sponsor’s oper­at­ing plat­form often plays a sig­nif­i­cant role in long-term per­for­mance.

Economic Conditions

While self-stor­age has his­tor­i­cal­ly demon­strat­ed resilience, no real estate sec­tor is com­plete­ly immune to eco­nom­ic dis­rup­tions.

Why Investors Continue to Like Self-Storage

Sev­er­al char­ac­ter­is­tics con­tin­ue attract­ing investors:

• His­tor­i­cal­ly strong occu­pan­cy
• Oper­a­tional effi­cien­cy
• Diverse demand dri­vers
• Infla­tion-adjust­ment poten­tial
• Tech­nol­o­gy-dri­ven oper­a­tions
• Lim­it­ed ten­ant con­cen­tra­tion risk

Unlike office or indus­tri­al prop­er­ties that may rely on a few ten­ants, self-stor­age facil­i­ties typ­i­cal­ly gen­er­ate rev­enue from hun­dreds or thou­sands of cus­tomers.

“That diver­si­fi­ca­tion with­in the prop­er­ty itself is one of the strengths of the asset class,” says DiNi­co­la.

Conclusion

Self-stor­age has evolved into a mature insti­tu­tion­al real estate sec­tor sup­port­ed by pow­er­ful demo­graph­ic and eco­nom­ic trends. Pop­u­la­tion growth, house­hold mobil­i­ty, busi­ness for­ma­tion, and chang­ing con­sumer behav­ior con­tin­ue dri­ving demand for stor­age solu­tions.

“Self-stor­age may not be the most glam­orous asset class, but it has con­sis­tent­ly demon­strat­ed resilience across mul­ti­ple eco­nom­ic cycles,” con­cludes DiNi­co­la. “For many investors seek­ing diver­si­fi­ca­tion and pas­sive own­er­ship through a DST, self-stor­age deserves seri­ous con­sid­er­a­tion.”

As DST spon­sors con­tin­ue to expand offer­ings in this sec­tor, self-stor­age is like­ly to remain an impor­tant com­po­nent of diver­si­fied real estate port­fo­lios and 1031 exchange replace­ment prop­er­ty strate­gies.