Buying a self-storage facility: what the public figures say

A note on labels first. Census and SBA figures use industry code NAICS 531130, "lessors of miniwarehouses and self-storage units". The rent, occupancy and cost figures come from the annual reports (10-Ks) of four listed storage companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs) that each run hundreds of facilities. A single facility bought with an SBA loan is much smaller, and its figures will differ.

What the big operators report

Each of the four listed storage companies reports the same facilities year over year ("same-store"). Their 2025 figures set a range for occupancy, rent and costs.

Sources: each company's Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, linked by name.

Extra Space says industry occupancy is "typically around 90%". Its costs carry no outside management fee, because it runs its own stores. A facility paying a manager costs more. National Storage Affiliates charges its own joint ventures 6% of revenue, which is one company's related-party fee rather than a market survey, so ask managers for quotes.

Property tax is the largest cost line: 11.27% of revenue at Extra Space and about $2.16 per sq ft at Public Storage. Many counties reassess a property when it sells, so a buyer's bill can be far above the seller's. Ask the assessor.

Sources: Extra Space Storage, 2025 Form 10-K, pp.8 and 29; National Storage Affiliates, 2025 Form 10-K, p.F-16; Public Storage, 2025 Form 10-K.

The gap to the street rate

Existing tenants usually pay more than new ones. In 2025, Extra Space's existing tenants paid $19.91 per sq ft against $13.16 on new leases. Public Storage's paid $22.54 against $12.80 at move-in. Extra Space says its existing tenants generally get a rent increase at least once a year, and that tenants who moved out had stayed 17 months on average. Neither publishes the size of the increases.

So part of a facility's rent will go as tenants leave and new ones move in at the street rate. A buyer who pays for today's rent roll is paying for rent that resets lower. Ask for the rent roll, the price list and the history of increases.

Sources: Extra Space Storage, 2025 Form 10-K, p.20; Public Storage, 2025 Form 10-K.

What facilities sell for

Storage is priced on a cap rate: net operating income (NOI) divided by the price. NOI is revenue less operating costs, before loan payments, depreciation and income tax. In Newmark's investor survey for the third quarter of 2024, the average was 5.70%, in a range of 4.75% to 7.75%.

Six Class B sales in 2022-24 that Newmark lists sold at cap rates of 5.21% to 5.68% and $143 to $168 per sq ft. The almanac itself says surveys should not be relied on as a primary source, so check local sales.

Source: Newmark, 2025 Self-Storage Almanac, Section 14, p.149.

In the 2022 Economic Census, the 18,465 storage establishments with paid staff took in an average of $1,116,460 each.

Source: US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, NAICS 531130.

What the price does to the loan

Take a facility of 48,908 sq ft, the median size of Newmark's Class B comparable sales, earning National Storage Affiliates' 2025 rent ($15.71) at its occupancy (84.3%), with its costs (30.6% of revenue) and a 6% management fee. NOI is $426,208 on revenue of $672,252. At the Class B average cap rate of 5.95% it is priced at $7,163,000, or $146 per sq ft, inside the comparable sales.

With 10% down, a 7(a) loan would be over the SBA's $5,000,000 maximum, so the buyer turns to a 504: a bank loan of $3,581,500 and a debenture of $2,928,000, upfront fees included, at 6.984%. The debenture alone costs $247,975 a year. What is left at the SBA minimum lender cover of 1.25x would not repay the bank loan over 25 years even at a 0% interest rate. The Class C average cap rate of 6.75% does not change the answer.

On a 7(a) loan at the SBA maximum rate of 10%, the same facility reaches 1.25x with $4,037,000 down, more than half the price, and then leaves $85,336 a year after loan payments. The reason is arithmetic. A 25-year loan at 10% costs about 10.9% of the amount borrowed each year, while the facility earns 5.95% of its price.

Sources: SBA SOP 50 10 8.1; National Storage Affiliates, 2025 Form 10-K; Newmark, 2025 Self-Storage Almanac. The worked examples are in the buyer's pack, with every input sourced.

How storage loans have ended

The SBA publishes every loan it backs, including whether it was repaid or written off. Of 7(a) loans approved in FY2010-19 to lessors of miniwarehouses and self-storage units that had finished by 30 Sep 2026, 0.83% were charged off: 7 of 845. Across all 7(a) loans the rate was 7.99%. For 504 loans to storage it was 0.26% (1 of 381).

Sources: SBA 7(a) loan file, FY2010-FY2019, as of 30 Sep 2026; SBA 504 loan file, as of 30 Sep 2026. Share of resolved loans charged off, by count.

All the charged-off 7(a) loans went to startups or businesses under two years old, where the rate was 2.00%. None of the 22 loans to buy an existing facility was charged off. Two cautions. The rate counts only loans that had finished, so loans still running are left out. And it shows how storage loans ended on average; it cannot test one facility's price and income. The full write-off table compares other business types and sets out the method.

Checks before you buy

• Occupancy. Use the average over the last 12 months, not one good month. Below 84.3%, the lowest REIT average, find out why. Above 93.7%, the highest, check it against a year of rent rolls.
• Rent. Divide rent collected by occupied sq ft. Below $15.71 or above $22.73, check the rent roll against the bank deposits, and ask for the delinquency and auction reports.
• Costs. All costs together below 24.9% of revenue, the lowest REIT share, usually means a cost is missing. Add a management fee and pay for any work the owner does.
• Property tax. Ask the assessor for the bill at your price, and use that instead of the seller's.
• Price per sq ft. Compare the price with local sales. Newmark's six Class B sales ran from $143 to $168 per sq ft.

This guide is education and data. It is not financial, legal or tax advice.