Valuing Self-Storage in 2026: Assumable Debt, Cap Rates & Trade-Area Data — The Smartest Hour in Self-Storage, Ep. 6
In the 2026 season finale of The Smartest Hour in Self-Storage, TractIQ CEO Noah Starr brings together a broker and an appraiser to answer the two questions every self-storage buyer wrestles with: how do you underwrite a portfolio, and how does it actually get valued? Austin McLeod of Matthews Real Estate Investment Services and Tim Gary of Cushman & Wakefield join to work through a real, on-market deal and explain how self-storage valuations have shifted this year.
The featured deal is a three-property, roughly 112,000-square-foot self-storage portfolio (about 775 units, 88% occupied) in Commerce, Georgia — just outside the Atlanta MSA. It carries attractive assumable CMBS debt at 3.85% fixed through February 2030, roughly $1.1 million in gross income, a ~32% expense load, and current NOI of about $742,000 projected to grow to ~$875,000 within three years, with offers expected in the $11.5M–$12.5M range.
Along the way, the panel digs into the questions that actually drive value:
- Why so much North Atlanta and Athens product is on the market right now — and why Commerce, with little new supply since 2019, is a different story.
- How to think about square feet per capita (why ~10 isn’t a dealbreaker) and how to run smarter trade-area and drive-time analysis instead of leaning on a single metric.
- Whether having no REITs within a 10-mile radius is a competitive edge or a red flag — and how the REITs are pushing into secondary and tertiary markets.
- How assumable debt really affects value and IRR, and how to underwrite a refinance three years out.
- How an appraiser arrives at fair market value, and why pinning down “market rent” is the hardest part of the job today.
- How AI is raising buyer sophistication — and changing the questions brokers and appraisers field.
The episode closes with a full breakdown of TractIQ’s live listings data — now more than $800 million of deals — including occupancy, basis, and cap-rate trends by deal size and state, plus CMBS-verified occupancy back to 2017 and in-place financials.
Whether you’re a self-storage investor, broker, appraiser, or operator, this 2026 finale is a practical look at how real deals get underwritten and valued in today’s market. The Smartest Hour in Self-Storage returns in 2027.
Access the Free Interactive Data Hub
As promised, we’ve analyzed every listing in TractIQ — more than $800 million of live deals — and broken it down by occupancy, basis, and cap rate across deal sizes and states. The full interactive macro data hub, plus CMBS-verified occupancy back to 2017 and in-place financials, is free for everyone:
- TractIQ customers: open it from the link in the bottom-left of your dashboard.
- Not a customer yet? Create your free Interactive Hub account for complete access.
The Smartest Hour in Self-Storage delivers the most deal-changing insights in self-storage — all in the time it takes to grab a coffee or scroll through your feed.
Powered by TractIQ, the industry’s leading source of verified data, the series draws on 70,000+ tracked facilities and $50B+ in monitored assets to deliver actionable analysis you can trust. Each month, the TractIQ team joins forces to decode market trends, uncover opportunities, and help you stay ahead in the fast-moving self-storage industry.
