Who Buys Self Storage Facilities? Understanding Your Buyer Pool in 2026
Key Takeaways
- Six distinct buyer types compete for self storage facilities in 2026: public REITs, private equity/institutional funds, regional operators, private owner-operators, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices.
- Public REITs (Public Storage, Extra Space, CubeSmart, NSA) target Class A/B facilities with 40,000+ NRSF in primary and secondary markets, paying at cap rates of 4.5–6%.
- Private equity has become the most aggressive buyer segment, with firms like Carlyle, KKR, and Brookfield deploying billions — including a landmark $1.03 billion NYC deal backed by 80% sovereign capital.
- Knowing your buyer pool before going to market is the single most important factor in your pricing strategy. The right buyer for your facility might pay 20–30% more than the wrong one.
- Different buyer types evaluate facilities very differently — what a REIT values isn’t what a 1031 exchange buyer values.
If you’re thinking about selling your self storage facility, there’s a question that matters more than almost any other: who is going to buy it?
Most owners assume “a buyer is a buyer.” That’s like saying a Camry and a Ferrari are both cars. Technically true, but the differences are what matter. The type of buyer who acquires your facility determines how much you get paid, how the deal is structured, and how smoothly the transaction goes.
The self storage buyer landscape has evolved dramatically over the past decade. What was once a market dominated by mom-and-pop operators buying from other mom-and-pop operators is now a sophisticated capital markets arena where REITs, private equity funds, sovereign wealth, and family offices compete alongside traditional operators.
Understanding who these buyers are — what they’re looking for, how they evaluate, and what they’ll pay — is the foundation of a successful sale strategy.
Public REITs: The Household Names
The Players: Public Storage (PSA), Extra Space Storage (EXR), CubeSmart (CUBE), National Storage Affiliates (NSA)
Public REITs are the most recognizable buyers in self storage. They’re publicly traded companies with massive portfolios, professional management platforms, and access to low-cost capital through public equity and debt markets.
What They Buy
Public REITs are selective. They’re looking for:
- Class A and B facilities — well-maintained, modern construction, good curb appeal
- 40,000+ net rentable square feet (NRSF) — they need scale to justify the acquisition and integration costs
- Primary and secondary markets — top 50 MSAs and strong secondary markets with population growth
- Stabilized or near-stabilized occupancy — they prefer facilities already operating at 85%+ occupancy
- Climate-controlled mix — strong preference for facilities with significant climate-controlled inventory, which commands premium rents
How They Price
REITs benefit from the lowest cost of capital in the industry, which allows them to pay premium prices:
- Cap rates: 4.5–6% depending on market and asset quality
- Price per square foot: $100–$180+ for top-tier assets
- Valuation basis: Primarily trailing 12-month NOI, but they’ll also underwrite to their own revenue management projections
To put the scale in perspective: Public Storage alone deployed $946 million in acquisitions during 2025. Extra Space Storage, after its merger with Life Storage, has been equally aggressive. These companies have the capital and the appetite.
How to Reach Them
REITs have dedicated acquisition teams that review opportunities daily. They work primarily through broker relationships — their teams are too lean to sift through cold inbound from owners. A call from a trusted broker gets your facility on an acquisition VP’s desk. A cold email from an owner typically doesn’t.
What to Know
REITs move methodically. Their due diligence is thorough (sometimes painfully so), and their legal teams are extensive. Expect a professional, well-documented process — but also expect it to take time.
Private Equity and Institutional Investors: The Aggressive Bidders
The Players: Carlyle Group, KKR, Ares Management, Brookfield Asset Management, Harrison Street, Nuveen, and dozens of smaller PE shops
Private equity has transformed self storage over the past decade. What was once considered too fragmented and too small for institutional capital is now one of the most sought-after commercial real estate asset classes.
What They Buy
PE buyers cast a wider net than REITs:
- Value-add opportunities — facilities with below-market rents, expansion potential, or operational inefficiency (this is their sweet spot)
- Portfolios — they prefer to deploy capital in scale, acquiring multiple facilities in a single transaction
- Secondary and tertiary markets — PE firms are more willing than REITs to invest in smaller markets where they see outsized returns
- Development deals — some PE firms will acquire land and build, or purchase facilities with entitled expansion land
- Turnaround situations — mismanaged facilities with strong underlying fundamentals
How They Price
PE pricing is driven by internal rate of return (IRR) targets rather than simple cap rates:
- Target IRR: 15%+ on a 5–7 year hold
- Entry cap rates: 5.5–7.5% depending on the value-add story
- They underwrite to the exit, meaning they’re pricing based on what they believe they can sell the facility for in 5–7 years, not just what it earns today
This IRR-driven approach means PE buyers will sometimes pay aggressively for facilities with significant upside potential, even if current cash flow is modest.
The Sovereign Wealth Angle
In 2025, Carlyle Group’s $1.03 billion acquisition of Manhattan Mini Storage made headlines — not just for its size, but for its capital structure. Approximately 80% of the equity came from sovereign wealth funds. This was unprecedented in self storage and signals a new chapter: sovereign wealth capital (government investment funds from countries like Norway, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia) is now flowing into the sector.
What does this mean for sellers? More capital chasing deals means more competition among buyers — and more competition means higher prices.
How to Reach Them
PE firms operate through networks of brokers, investment banks, and industry relationships. Their deal teams attend industry conferences (SSA, ISS), monitor broker deal flow, and maintain relationships with operators who might be acquisition targets. Direct outreach from an owner occasionally works, but broker-represented deals get far more attention.
What to Know
PE buyers are sophisticated, fast-moving, and numbers-driven. They’ll make decisions quickly once they have the data they need. But they’re also aggressive negotiators who will push hard on price and terms during due diligence.
Regional Operators: The Relationship Buyers
The Players: StorageMart, Storage Post, SROA (now Sentry Self Storage), Pogoda Companies, Absolute Storage Management, and dozens of strong regional platforms
Regional operators are the middle ground between institutional capital and individual owner-operators. They typically own 20–200 facilities concentrated in specific geographic areas and are growing through targeted acquisition.
What They Buy
Regional operators are strategic about geography:
- Facilities in or adjacent to their existing footprint — they want operational density, where a regional manager can oversee multiple locations
- All classes — A, B, and C facilities, depending on the operator and market
- Smaller facilities — many regional operators will acquire facilities below 30,000 NRSF that REITs and PE firms won’t touch
- Management platform deals — they can integrate your facility into their existing management infrastructure, creating immediate efficiency gains
How They Price
- Cap rates: 5.5–7.5% depending on market and facility quality
- They value operational synergy — a facility that fills a gap in their geographic coverage may be worth more to them than the raw numbers suggest
- Relationship-driven pricing — regional operators often buy off-market through direct relationships, which can mean faster transactions but potentially less competitive pricing
How to Reach Them
This is the one buyer segment where direct outreach can work well. Regional operators are accessible — they attend local industry events, they’re members of state self storage associations, and they actively look for acquisition opportunities in their target markets.
That said, a broker can still add value by creating competition between multiple regional operators (and other buyer types) rather than negotiating with just one.
What to Know
Regional operators tend to be flexible on deal structure and timeline. They understand the operational realities of running a storage facility because they’re operators themselves. This makes them pragmatic, empathetic buyers — but don’t mistake friendliness for a willingness to overpay.
Private Owner-Operators: The Individual Buyers
Who They Are: Individual investors, first-time self storage buyers, 1031 exchange buyers, small partnerships
Private owner-operators are the original self storage buyer. Before REITs and PE firms discovered the industry, self storage was built by individuals buying, building, and operating facilities one at a time.
What They Buy
- Smaller facilities — typically under $3 million, often under $1.5 million
- 1031 exchange targets — buyers with capital gains from other real estate sales who need to deploy into a like-kind property within strict IRS timelines
- Owner-operator opportunities — facilities where the buyer plans to manage the property themselves or with a small team
- First-time acquisitions — investors entering self storage from other real estate sectors or business backgrounds
How They Price
- Cap rates: 6–9% — wider range reflecting less sophisticated underwriting and more emotional decision-making
- Often overpay — particularly 1031 exchange buyers who are under time pressure and first-time buyers who lack market context
- Price on potential rather than current performance — they see what the facility could be with their involvement
How to Reach Them
Private buyers are the hardest segment to reach efficiently. They’re scattered across LoopNet, Crexi, industry forums, self storage associations, and social media groups. Some work with buyer’s agents. Many are browsing on their own.
A broker’s buyer database is valuable here — not because private buyers pay the most, but because they increase competition in the offer process.
What to Know
Private buyer transactions tend to be slower, more prone to financing complications, and more likely to fall through. First-time buyers may underestimate the complexity of due diligence, and 1031 exchange buyers may have unrealistic timeline expectations. These are solvable issues, but they require patience and experience to navigate.
Sovereign Wealth Funds: The New Entrants
Who They Are: Government investment funds — GIC (Singapore), ADIA (Abu Dhabi), Norges Bank (Norway), PIF (Saudi Arabia)
Sovereign wealth funds represent the newest — and potentially most transformative — buyer segment in self storage.
Why Self Storage?
These funds manage hundreds of billions (sometimes trillions) of dollars and need stable, inflation-protected, long-duration assets. Self storage checks every box:
- Recession-resilient cash flows
- Inflation-linked rent growth (month-to-month leases allow rapid rent adjustment)
- Fragmented market with consolidation potential
- Essential service with growing demand
How They Invest
Sovereign wealth funds rarely buy individual facilities directly. Instead, they:
- Partner with established operators or PE firms — as in Carlyle’s Manhattan Mini Storage deal where sovereign capital provided 80% of the equity
- Invest through platform acquisitions — buying or building management companies that can aggregate hundreds of facilities
- Take long-duration positions — 10–20+ year hold periods, which means they’re less focused on short-term IRR and more focused on long-term cash flow growth
What This Means for Sellers
More capital entering the market creates more demand for assets. When sovereign wealth funds deploy billions into self storage through PE partnerships and platform deals, those platforms need to acquire facilities — your facilities. This capital flow has been a meaningful driver of pricing strength since 2024.
Family Offices: The Patient Capital
Who They Are: Investment offices managing wealth for high-net-worth families — typically $100M+ in assets under management
What They Buy
- Stabilized, cash-flowing assets — family offices prioritize income stability over growth
- Long-hold opportunities — unlike PE, they don’t need to exit in 5–7 years, which makes them more patient buyers
- Direct investments — many family offices prefer to own assets directly rather than through fund structures
How They Price
- Cap rates: 5–7% — willing to pay competitive prices for quality
- Less price-sensitive than PE on a per-deal basis because they’re not constrained by fund-level return targets
- Cash buyers — many family offices can close with all-equity, eliminating financing contingencies
How to Reach Them
Family offices are the most relationship-driven buyer segment. They work through trusted advisors, brokers, and personal networks. Most have no public deal pipeline and don’t advertise their acquisition criteria. Reaching them requires specific relationships and industry knowledge.
What to Know
Family office transactions are often the smoothest and fastest to close. These buyers know what they want, they have the capital ready, and they don’t have investment committee bureaucracy slowing them down. The challenge is finding them and getting your opportunity in front of them.
How Each Buyer Type Evaluates Your Facility
Understanding what different buyers look for helps you prepare your facility — and your financials — for the sale process.
| Buyer Type | Primary Focus | Secondary Focus | Deal Breakers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public REITs | Trailing NOI, market demographics | Expansion potential, brand conversion cost | Small size (<40K NRSF), tertiary markets |
| PE/Institutional | Value-add potential, IRR modeling | Management upside, expansion land | No clear path to 15%+ IRR |
| Regional Operators | Geographic fit, operational synergy | Facility condition, staffing | Outside their footprint |
| Private Owners | Cash flow, ease of operation | Growth potential, lifestyle fit | Financing obstacles, complexity |
| Sovereign Wealth | Long-term cash flow stability | Market growth, inflation protection | Small scale, high risk |
| Family Offices | Income stability, quality | Location quality, low capex needs | High-maintenance assets |
Why This Matters for Your Pricing Strategy
Here’s the practical takeaway: the buyer who pays the most for your facility depends on what your facility is.
- A Class A facility in a primary market will attract REIT and PE interest, driving cap rates down and prices up.
- A value-add opportunity with expansion potential will excite PE buyers who’ll pay for upside that others won’t.
- A stabilized facility in a secondary market might be perfect for a regional operator looking to expand their footprint.
- A smaller facility in a tertiary market might command the highest price from a 1031 exchange buyer under time pressure.
The wrong strategy: pricing your facility for one buyer type and hoping they show up.
The right strategy: understanding which buyer types will compete for your facility and marketing specifically to them.
This is where a specialist broker earns their fee. We don’t just list your facility and wait. We analyze your asset, identify the specific buyer types most likely to pay top dollar, and target our marketing accordingly. Sometimes the highest-paying buyer isn’t the most obvious one.
The Buyer Landscape Is Shifting in Your Favor
If you’re considering selling in 2026, here’s the good news: the buyer pool for self storage has never been deeper. A decade ago, your facility might have attracted interest from a handful of local operators. Today, that same facility might draw attention from a REIT, two PE-backed platforms, a regional operator, several 1031 exchange buyers, and a family office — all competing against each other.
More buyers means more competition. More competition means higher prices. And sovereign wealth capital entering the sector through PE partnerships is adding fuel to an already hot market.
The key is ensuring your facility gets in front of the right buyers — not just whoever happens to be browsing LoopNet.
We know who’s buying in your market — and what they’re paying. Let us match your facility with the right buyer to maximize your sale price.
[Get a Confidential Buyer Analysis →]