Self-Storage REIT Update – October 2025

October 15, 2025

October 2025 Self-Storage REIT Update: Now Available

The self-storage sector continues to navigate a shifting landscape marked by moderating rent growth, elevated expenses, and stabilizing occupancy. Capright’s latest Self-Storage REIT Update dives into the numbers shaping the industry and the trends driving investor strategy into 2026.

🔍 Sector Snapshot

• Average Occupancy: +0.7% QoQ
• Average Revenue Growth: -0.6% QoQ
• Average NOI Growth: -0.9% QoQ
• Average Expense Growth: +1.2% QoQ
• Street vs. Contract Rent Spread: 48% (up from 11% in 2020)
• FY2025 NOI Guidance: -1.7% average across the top REITs

🏗 Market Overview

Rental rates continue to show YoY declines, while occupancies have remained stable. Depressed housing activity and elevated financing costs are limiting demand in some regions; however, supply constraints and urbanization are helping offset softness in rent growth.

Institutional investors remain active, particularly in supply-constrained markets where local municipalities limit new self-storage development. Once considered challenging markets, these areas are emerging as the most attractive for long-term growth as scarcity becomes a competitive advantage.

💡 Trends Reshaping the Sector

The spread between street rents and contractual rents has widened significantly, from 11% in 2020 to 48% in 2025. Operators are leveraging technology and dynamic pricing tools to adjust street rates more frequently, optimizing revenue while managing occupancy.

Capright’s research indicates this divergence represents a structural shift in how value is created and measured in self-storage, emphasizing the importance of data-driven valuation and operational strategy.

💰 Uncovering Hidden Tax Savings

With expense pressures mounting, property tax optimization presents a meaningful opportunity for improved performance. Many owners overpay due to misallocation of value to real estate instead of goodwill and intangibles.

Capright’s valuation experts help identify and properly allocate non-taxable intangibles, ensuring that only real property is taxed and reducing overstated assessments across portfolios.

🧭 Looking Ahead

While short-term growth has tempered, the self-storage industry’s long-term outlook remains positive. Limited new construction, elevated replacement costs, and persistent demand from urban renters will continue to support market stability.

In this environment, disciplined valuation, accurate allocation, and strategic insight will define outperformance.

📬 Let’s Talk

At Capright, we are uniquely positioned to support institutional investors, operators, and developers navigating this evolving environment. As an independent valuation and advisory firm, we provide clarity, accuracy, and confidence, especially where the stakes are highest.