Self Storage Demonstrates Less Volatile and Cyclical Quality

Doherty says Crow focuses on the event-driven nature of self storage.

DALLAS—A vacancy contraction of 100 basis points to 10.4% this year will leave the Southwest region poised to achieve a 3.4% increase in climate-controlled rents, according to a Marcus & Millichap self-storage report. Additionally, non-climate-controlled facilities’ average asking rent climbed 3.9% in 2016. Average asking rent increased 1.4% to $1.42 per square foot in the last four quarters among climate-controlled space and 4.5% to $1.10 per square foot at non-climate-controlled facilities. The vacancy rate continued its downward trend last year, falling 70 basis points annually as job growth intensified in the metro, GlobeSt.com learns.

In response to the increased rent growth recorded the past year along with other investment factors, Crow Holdings Capital–Real Estate has an expanded investment focus on development, redevelopment and acquisitions of existing self-storage properties. Specifically, the Dallas-based asset manager of private equity real estate funds reported, since beginning targeted investment activities in August 2015, it has completed investments in approximately 24 separate self-storage transactions across its national markets. Crow Holdings’ self-storage platform currently contains more than 2 million square feet of space across 19,032 units.