Self Storage Valuation: Self Storage Cap Rates and What Storage Facilities Sell For
Enter the facility's revenue and owner earnings and read a range benchmarked to what storage businesses actually closed at, whether you are setting an asking price or deciding what to offer on a facility you want to buy.
Estimated business value
Method breakdown
What moves this number
Estimate, not a certified appraisal. Your figures are not stored.
A self storage facility is valued one of two ways, and which one applies decides the price more than anything else. Sold with its land and buildings, it is real estate: stabilized net operating income divided by a cap rate, which CT Acquisitions quotes at 5.5 to 6.5 percent for Class A, 6.5 to 7.5 percent for Class B and 7.5 to 8.0 percent for Class C facilities. Sold as an operating business, it trades on owner earnings: storage and warehouse businesses sold in the US from 2021 to 2025 went for a median 3.36x seller discretionary earnings, with half between 2.61x and 4.24x.
The median sale price in that record was $990,000, on $332,776 of owner earnings and $1,653,526 of revenue. Read the same $332,776 as NOI at a 7.5 percent cap rate and it is worth $4,437,013. The difference is the land, the buildings and the buyer who can finance them. This is a benchmark and an estimator, not a certified appraisal.
Closed transactions
01What storage businesses actually sold for
These are sale prices, not asking prices, from storage and warehouse businesses sold across the five years 2021 to 2025. The source describes the set as privately owned self storage facilities, portable storage businesses, automobile, boat and RV storage, commercial storage services and B2B warehousing and logistics companies. That mix matters: most of these deals are operating businesses, and the ones that include the property sit in the top quartile.
Median sale price
$990,000
What the middle storage or warehouse business closed at, 2021 to 2025
Median asking price
$1,085,000
What the same sold businesses were listed at
Median revenue
$1,653,526
Annual sales of the middle business sold
Median owner earnings (SDE)
$332,776
Seller discretionary earnings of the middle business sold
| Storage and warehouse businesses sold, 2021 to 2025 | Lower quartile | Median | Average | Upper quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seller discretionary earnings multiple | 2.61x | 3.36x | 3.41x | 4.24x |
| Revenue multiple (multiple of annual sales) | 0.52x | 0.77x | 1.00x | 1.27x |
| Revenue | $669,000 | $1,653,526 | $2,123,392 | $2,663,226 |
| Owner earnings (SDE) | $195,000 | $332,776 | $508,658 | $655,331 |
| Sale price | $572,500 | $990,000 | $1,691,844 | $2,350,000 |
| Asking price of the same businesses | $672,500 | $1,085,000 | $1,763,474 | $2,272,500 |
Source: BizBuySell storage and warehouse business valuation benchmarks, businesses sold on the platform 2021 to 2025, retrieved September 2026. Median days on market 144, average sale to ask ratio 0.92. The source says multiples in the sector generally fall between 2.5 and 4 times owner earnings. Benchmarks, not quotes.
Look at the gap between the median and the average sale price. The average, $1,691,844, is 70.9 percent above the median of $990,000, far more than the earnings gap between the two, which says a tail of large deals, most with property, sits on top of a market of mid-sized operating businesses. The source puts simple storage businesses without real estate from around $500,000 and specialized storage, businesses with property or B2B warehousing at $2.5 million and up. Work out how to calculate SDE for the facility first, then find its row in section 05.
Our calculation
02Self storage cap rates against the earnings multiple: the same dollar, two prices
Almost every guide to self storage valuation says to divide NOI by a cap rate, and almost every storage business that changes hands on the small business market sells at about three times owner earnings. Both are right, because they describe different assets. The table reads the median sold business's $332,776 of earnings both ways.
| Reading of $332,776 | Method | Implied value | Earnings yield to the buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Observed median sale (storage and warehouse businesses) | reported directly | $990,000 | 33.6% |
| $332,776 x 3.36 (sold median SDE multiple) | SDE multiple | $1,118,127 | 29.8% |
| $332,776 x 4.24 (sold upper quartile SDE multiple) | SDE multiple | $1,410,970 | 23.6% |
| $332,776 as NOI at 8.0% (Class C, tertiary) | Cap rate | $4,159,700 | 8.0% |
| $332,776 as NOI at 7.5% (Class B top, Class C bottom) | Cap rate | $4,437,013 | 7.5% |
| $332,776 as NOI at 6.5% (Class A top, Class B bottom) | Cap rate | $5,119,631 | 6.5% |
| $332,776 as NOI at 5.5% (Class A, primary market) | Cap rate | $6,050,473 | 5.5% |
Computed here. Seller discretionary earnings is not net operating income: SDE adds the owner's pay back, while NOI charges a market management fee, which CT Acquisitions benchmarks at 5 to 7 percent of effective gross income, or $82,676 to $115,747 on the median revenue. The cap rate rows show what the same dollar is worth as real estate income, not a valuation of any business in the record.
| Self storage facility class | Cap rate quoted | Implied multiple of NOI (computed here) |
|---|---|---|
| Class A, primary markets | 5.5% to 6.5% | 15.4x to 18.2x NOI |
| Class B, secondary markets | 6.5% to 7.5% | 13.3x to 15.4x NOI |
| Class C, tertiary markets | 7.5% to 8.0% | 12.5x to 13.3x NOI |
| Lease-up or value-add | Stabilized exit cap plus 100 to 150 basis points | Priced on projected, not trailing, NOI |
Cap rate bands: CT Acquisitions, self storage business valuation guide (ctacquisitions.com), retrieved September 2026. The same page also shows a 5.0 to 5.5 percent figure for Class A urban assets in another section; we use its tier table. Implied multiples are one divided by the cap rate.
So the first question in any storage valuation is not the multiple. It is what the buyer receives. A facility on land the seller owns, stabilized and in a decent market, belongs in the cap rate table, and a broker who prices it at three times earnings is giving away the real estate. A portable storage fleet, a vehicle storage lot on a lease or a warehousing operation belongs in the earnings table, and a seller who divides its cash flow by 7 percent is asking for a price no lender will fund. If you need a written opinion on which it is, our page on what a business valuation costs lays out the fee bands.
Our calculation
03Who can pay a cap rate price: the financing arithmetic
An SBA 7(a) loan that includes real estate can run 25 years. At 10.5 percent that is an annual loan constant of 0.11330, and at 1.25x coverage the lender will lend 1 divided by 1.25 divided by 0.11330, or about 7.06 times NOI. Put 10 percent down and the facility has to yield about 12.75 percent on the full price for the numbers to work. Cap rates of 5.5 to 8 percent do not come close, so the difference comes out of the buyer's pocket.
| Cap rate paid on $300,000 of NOI | Price | Largest SBA loan at 1.25x, 25 years | Cash the buyer needs | Cash as a share of price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5% | $5,454,545 | $2,118,236 | $3,336,309 | 61.2% |
| 6.5% | $4,615,385 | $2,118,236 | $2,497,148 | 54.1% |
| 7.5% | $4,000,000 | $2,118,236 | $1,881,764 | 47.0% |
| 8.0% | $3,750,000 | $2,118,236 | $1,631,764 | 43.5% |
| 12.75% | $2,353,596 | $2,118,236 | $235,360 | 10.0% |
Computed here. SBA 7(a) at an assumed 10.5 percent, 25-year amortization, 1.25x debt service coverage on NOI, before the SBA guaranty fee and closing costs. The last row is the cap rate at which a 10 percent down payment is enough. Illustrative arithmetic, not a loan offer or a credit decision.
Buying a facility with the land at 7.5 percent
$1,881,764 in cash
A $300,000 NOI facility at a 7.5 percent cap rate costs $4,000,000. The lender stops at $2,118,236, so the buyer brings 47.0 percent of the price. That is the reason the cap rate market belongs to REITs, funds and 1031 exchange buyers with cheaper capital or equity to place.
Buying the median operating business
$108,504 left over
At $990,000 with 10 percent down on a 10-year loan, the payment on $891,000 is about $144,272 a year, covered 2.31 times by $332,776 of owner earnings. After an $80,000 owner draw the buyer keeps $108,504. The same earnings would support about $1,387,642 of price, so the SBA buyer is not the constraint here.
One eligibility point for SBA buyers. SOP 50 10 8 does not name self storage, but it bars businesses primarily engaged in owning real estate and leasing it, and it makes a borrower ineligible where a third-party management company has sole discretion over the operation, unless the owner approves the annual budget and larger capital spending, controls the bank accounts and oversees the employees. A facility run under a management contract has to be structured with that oversight before the loan closes. Our guide to the SBA loan to buy a business covers the rest of the file.
Cross-check
04Why multiplying by the median multiple overprices a storage business
A seller handed a multiple usually multiplies, and here every route lands above what the middle business actually sold for. The earnings routes overshoot by 12.9 to 14.6 percent, and the revenue routes by 28.6 to 67.0 percent, because the multiples are pulled up by the property deals in the top quartile while the median sale is set by operating businesses.
| Method | Arithmetic | Implied value | Against the observed median sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median earnings x median earnings multiple | $332,776 x 3.36 | $1,118,127 | +12.9% |
| Median earnings x average earnings multiple | $332,776 x 3.41 | $1,134,766 | +14.6% |
| Median revenue x median revenue multiple | $1,653,526 x 0.77 | $1,273,215 | +28.6% |
| Median revenue x average revenue multiple | $1,653,526 x 1.00 | $1,653,526 | +67.0% |
| Observed median sale price | reported directly | $990,000 | n/a |
| Quartile of sold businesses | Asking price | Sale price | Sale against asking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower quartile | $672,500 | $572,500 | -14.9% |
| Median | $1,085,000 | $990,000 | -8.8% |
| Average | $1,763,474 | $1,691,844 | -4.1% |
| Upper quartile | $2,272,500 | $2,350,000 | +3.4% |
Computed here from the published medians, multiples and price quartiles. Asking and sale quartiles are each ranked separately, so a row compares the distribution of asks to the distribution of sales, not individual deals.
The second table is the one a seller should read before listing. At the bottom of the market, storage businesses closed 14.9 percent under asking. At the top, they closed 3.4 percent above. Small operating storage businesses face a thin buyer pool and give up price, while the large facilities and property deals attract competition. The median effective multiple, sale price over owner earnings, is 2.97x, which is the number to start from for a mid-sized operating business, not 3.36x.
Find your row
05What a storage business is worth at each level of owner earnings
For an operating storage business sold without its real estate. The first three columns apply the sold lower quartile, median and upper quartile multiples. The last shows what an SBA buyer drawing $80,000 a year can finance on a 10-year loan at 10.5 percent, 1.25x coverage and 10 percent down.
| Seller discretionary earnings | At 2.61x (lower quartile) | At 3.36x (median) | At 4.24x (upper quartile) | SBA capacity at an $80,000 draw |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $195,000 (lower quartile sold) | $508,950 | $655,200 | $826,800 | $631,305 |
| $332,776 (median sold) | $868,545 | $1,118,127 | $1,410,970 | $1,387,642 |
| $508,658 (average sold) | $1,327,597 | $1,709,091 | $2,156,710 | $2,353,166 |
| $655,331 (upper quartile sold) | $1,710,414 | $2,201,912 | $2,778,603 | $3,158,344 |
Computed here. Annual loan constant 0.16192 at 10 years and 10.5 percent. Illustrative arithmetic before taxes and capital spending, not a loan offer.
Read the lower quartile row. At $195,000 of owner earnings the business is worth $508,950 to $826,800 on the sold multiples, and an SBA buyer can finance up to $631,305, less than even the median multiple, so a small facility sells near the bottom of the range unless the seller carries a note. At the median, financing reaches $1,387,642, just short of the upper quartile multiple, and from the average up it clears it. That matches the ask-to-sale table: the bigger the facility, the less the buyer's loan limits the price.
Sector comparison
06Storage against the rest of the transportation and storage sector
Storage and warehouse businesses carry the highest average earnings multiple in the sector outside truck stops, and the highest average revenue multiple of all, at 1.00x. The source credits the simple business model and recurring revenue. The owner margin, 20.1 percent, is no better than trucking's; buyers pay more for storage earnings because they are steadier and do not wear out.
| Category | Median revenue | Avg revenue multiple | Median SDE | Avg SDE multiple | Owner margin | Effective SDE multiple | Median sale | Sale/ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truck stops | $6,111,912 | 0.71x | $1,214,942 | 3.69x | 19.9% | 4.32x | $5,250,000 | 1.13 |
| Storage and warehouse businesses | $1,653,526 | 1.00x | $332,776 | 3.41x | 20.1% | 2.97x | $990,000 | 0.92 |
| Trucking companies | $1,954,881 | 0.65x | $400,000 | 3.00x | 20.5% | 2.84x | $1,137,500 | 0.93 |
| Other transportation and storage | $1,245,010 | 0.78x | $259,743 | 2.83x | 20.9% | 2.65x | $687,500 | 0.93 |
| Moving and shipping businesses | $634,402 | 0.63x | $157,000 | 2.52x | 24.7% | 2.23x | $350,000 | 0.91 |
| Limo and passenger transportation | $713,700 | 0.79x | $216,000 | 2.46x | 30.3% | 2.20x | $474,950 | 0.90 |
| Routes | $322,910 | 0.62x | $102,050 | 1.78x | 31.6% | 1.18x | $120,000 | 0.98 |
Source: BizBuySell transportation and storage valuation benchmarks, businesses sold 2021 to 2025, retrieved September 2026. Owner margin (median SDE divided by median revenue) and effective SDE multiple (median sale divided by median SDE) are computed here.
The closest comparison is trucking. The median trucking company earned $400,000, 20.2 percent more than the median storage business, and sold at 2.84x against storage's 2.97x, because a trucking buyer has to fund tractor replacement out of the same earnings. Outside the sector, car washes and laundromats share the storage pattern of land, little labor and a price that depends on whether the property is in the deal. Our SDE multiples by industry tables carry the comparison across the whole economy.
Methods
07The five ways a self storage facility gets valued
A commercial real estate appraiser, a business broker, a lender and a REIT acquisitions team will each reach for a different one. Knowing which the other side is using is most of the negotiation.
Income capitalization (NOI divided by a cap rate)
The method for a facility sold with its land and buildings. Stabilized net operating income, after a market management fee and before debt service and depreciation, divided by a market cap rate. The buyer pool is REITs, private real estate funds and 1031 exchange buyers, and none of them will discuss an earnings multiple. A one point move in the cap rate on $300,000 of NOI is worth $615,385 at 6.5 to 7.5 percent.
Seller discretionary earnings multiple
The method behind the closed-sale record, and the right one for an operating business sold without the real estate: a facility on a ground lease, a portable storage fleet, a vehicle storage lot or a warehousing operation. Normalized SDE times a multiple between about 2.61x and 4.24x, where half of all sales landed. The source puts a $3 million revenue self storage business above 4x and a warehouse business under $700,000 of sales near 2.5x.
Sales comparison (price per square foot or per unit)
How appraisers cross-check the income approach: recent sales of comparable facilities in the same submarket, adjusted for climate control share, occupancy and age. It is only as good as the comps, and storage sales in a small market can be two or three a year, so it works as a check, never as the price.
Cost approach
Land value plus the cost to build the improvements today, minus depreciation. It sets a ceiling on an older facility (a buyer will not pay more than building new nearby would cost) and is the approach lenders lean on for a facility still in lease-up, where the income approach has little trailing NOI to work with.
Revenue multiple
The weakest reading here. Median revenue times the median revenue multiple overshoots the median sale by 28.6 percent, and the average multiple by 67.0 percent, because a handful of large property deals pull the revenue multiples up. Use it only to spot a listing that is out of line.
Value drivers
08What moves a storage facility between the quartiles
On $332,776 of owner earnings the distance from the lower to the upper quartile multiple is $868,545 to $1,410,970. On an owned facility, half a point of cap rate on $300,000 of NOI is worth $250,000 at the 8 percent end of the range and $454,545 at the 5.5 percent end. These are the factors that decide where a specific facility lands.
Whether the land and buildings are in the deal
The single largest driver, and the reason one sector can hold both a $572,500 lower quartile and a $2,350,000 upper quartile. The source says simple storage businesses without real estate trade from around $500,000, while specialized storage, businesses with property, or B2B warehousing run $2.5 million and up. Decide which market the facility is in before any other number on this page.
Economic occupancy, not physical
CT Acquisitions puts stabilized pricing at 85 to 92 percent physical occupancy and says economic occupancy typically runs 5 to 15 points below physical once concessions, discounts and delinquency are counted. A buyer prices the economic figure, so a facility that is 92 percent full on move-in specials is valued as an 80 percent facility.
In-place rents against street rates
If existing tenants have not seen an increase in two or three years while street rates rose, the buyer sees the gap as their upside and pays for in-place NOI only. Closing it over two renewal cycles before listing turns their upside into your price.
Operating expense ratio and the management fee
The same adviser benchmarks operating expenses at 28 to 38 percent of effective gross income, which means an NOI margin near 62 to 72 percent, and third-party management at 5 to 7 percent of effective gross income. A buyer charges that fee against NOI even if you manage the site yourself, so on the median revenue of $1,653,526 it is $82,676 to $115,747 a year that comes off the value.
Climate control share
CT Acquisitions puts climate-controlled revenue per square foot 30 to 50 percent above drive-up units and says a climate mix above 40 percent can compress the cap rate by 0.5 to 0.75 points. On $300,000 of NOI, moving from 7.5 to 6.75 percent is worth about $444,000.
Ancillary income
Tenant protection plans, locks, boxes and truck rental. The adviser benchmarks tenant insurance attach rates at 70 to 85 percent and flags anything below 50 percent as underperforming, with ancillary lines contributing 4 to 7 percent of revenue. Almost all of it drops straight into NOI.
New supply within the trade area
Storage demand is local. A new facility permitted within a few miles suppresses rent growth for years, and buyers pull permits before they read your rent roll. Show the pipeline yourself, with the distance and unit count, before a buyer finds it and prices the worst case.
Deferred capital
Roofs, roll-up doors, paving, gates, access control and cameras. A buyer deducts the replacement bill from the price dollar for dollar, and on an SBA deal the lender may require it funded at closing. A capital schedule with dates and quotes is cheaper than the discount a buyer applies to an unknown.
One SBA rule decides whether a separate appraisal is needed. Under SOP 50 10 8 the lender must order an independent business valuation when the intangible portion of the financed amount exceeds $250,000, and in a storage deal with property most of the price is land and buildings covered by the real estate appraisal. On an operating business sold without property, almost the whole price is intangible, so the business valuation for the SBA loan is required.
Questions
Self storage valuation questions, answered against the sold record
How much is a self storage facility worth?
It depends first on whether the land and buildings are included. Storage and warehouse businesses sold on BizBuySell from 2021 to 2025 went for a median $990,000, or 2.97 times median owner earnings of $332,776, mostly without owned real estate. A facility sold with its property is priced on net operating income divided by a cap rate, which at 6.5 to 7.5 percent puts $300,000 of NOI at $4,000,000 to $4,615,385.
How do you value a self storage facility?
Build a clean trailing twelve month NOI: all rental and ancillary revenue minus property tax, insurance, utilities, payroll, marketing, repairs and a market management fee, before debt service and depreciation. Decide whether it is stabilized, at roughly 85 to 92 percent occupancy. Divide by a cap rate from recent local sales, then deduct deferred capital. If the real estate is not in the sale, value the business on an SDE multiple instead.
What is the cap rate for self storage?
CT Acquisitions, a self storage M&A adviser, quotes 5.5 to 6.5 percent for Class A facilities in primary markets, 6.5 to 7.5 percent for Class B in secondary markets and 7.5 to 8.0 percent for Class C in tertiary markets, with lease-up deals underwritten to a stabilized exit cap plus 100 to 150 basis points. Cap rates move with interest rates, so check local sales from the last twelve months.
What multiple do storage businesses sell for?
Storage and warehouse businesses sold at a median 3.36 times seller discretionary earnings and an average 3.41 times, with a lower quartile of 2.61x and an upper quartile of 4.24x, across sales from 2021 to 2025. On revenue the median was 0.77x and the average 1.00x. The source says a $3 million revenue self storage business may sell above 4x.
How much do storage businesses sell for?
The median storage or warehouse business sold for $990,000 against a median asking price of $1,085,000, an average sale to ask ratio of 0.92, after a median 144 days on the market. The lower quartile sold for $572,500 and the upper quartile for $2,350,000. The average sale price of $1,691,844 sits 70.9 percent above the median because a few large property deals pull it up.
How much does a storage business make a year?
The middle storage or warehouse business that sold reported $332,776 of seller discretionary earnings on $1,653,526 of revenue, a 20.1 percent owner margin. The lower quartile earned $195,000 on $669,000 of revenue and the upper quartile $655,331 on $2,663,226. A stabilized self storage facility that owns its property runs a far higher NOI margin, near 62 to 72 percent on the adviser benchmarks, before debt service.
How much is a storage facility worth per square foot?
There is no national figure worth using, because price per square foot is the output of rent, occupancy and cap rate in one trade area. CT Acquisitions reports revenue of $18 to $25 or more per square foot in coastal urban markets and $9 to $13 in tertiary inland markets, so the same building can be worth twice as much per foot in one market as in the other. Value the NOI first, then divide by the rentable square feet.
Can you get an SBA loan for a self storage facility?
SBA SOP 50 10 8 does not name self storage. It bars businesses primarily engaged in owning real estate and leasing it, so the lender has to be satisfied the facility is an operating business. It also makes a borrower ineligible if a third-party manager has sole discretion over operations, unless the owner approves the budget and capital spending, controls the bank accounts and oversees the employees.
How much does a self storage appraisal cost?
A business valuation commonly runs $1,500 to $8,000 for a calculation engagement and $5,000 to $15,000 for a full conclusion of value. A facility sold with its land also needs a commercial real estate appraisal ordered by the lender. On the $990,000 median storage business, the business valuation alone is 0.15 to 0.81 percent of the price for a calculation and 0.51 to 1.52 percent for a full report.
What occupancy does a storage facility need to be stabilized?
CT Acquisitions puts stabilized pricing at 85 to 92 percent physical occupancy. Below that, buyers underwrite to a projected stabilized NOI and then take off the time and marketing cost of lease-up, which the same adviser prices as a stabilized exit cap plus 100 to 150 basis points. Economic occupancy, after discounts and delinquency, typically sits 5 to 15 points under the physical figure.
Asked another way
What storage owners and buyers ask when they are deciding
These come up once the numbers are understood and the decision is the real problem: making an offer, choosing whether to buy the land, or setting an asking price. Answered against the same closed-transaction data as the rest of this page.
Is a storage business listed at 5x cash flow overpriced?
Only if the real estate is not included. The upper quartile of storage and warehouse businesses sold was 4.24x owner earnings, so 5x on an operating business with no land sits above three quarters of the market. If the listing includes the land and buildings, 5x owner earnings is a 20 percent earnings yield, which is cheap next to cap rates of 5.5 to 8 percent. Ask what is being sold before arguing about the multiple.
Why do small storage facilities sell for so much less than REIT prices?
Because the buyer pays for debt at a different price. At a 10.5 percent SBA rate on a 25-year term and 1.25x coverage, a buyer putting 10 percent down needs an NOI yield of about 12.75 percent. REITs and institutional funds buy at 5.5 to 8 percent because their capital costs less. A small facility is often priced by the buyer who can finance it, not by the one who would pay the most.
Should I buy a storage business with the land or lease the property?
Owning the land puts you in the cap rate market, where a $300,000 NOI facility is worth $4,000,000 to $4,615,385 at 6.5 to 7.5 percent and needs roughly half the price in cash at SBA terms. Buying the business on a lease puts you in the SDE market near 2.61x to 4.24x earnings, where a 10 percent injection works. The lease term becomes the value: a short remaining term cuts what a lender will finance.
Do storage businesses sell for close to the asking price?
Larger ones do, smaller ones do not. The median storage business closed 8.8 percent under its asking price and the lower quartile 14.9 percent under, while the upper quartile closed 3.4 percent above what it asked. Buyers compete for the bigger facilities and property deals and negotiate hard on the small operating businesses.
Benchmarks behind the estimate
Buying or selling a storage facility
Find out where in the range a storage facility sits
Enter revenue and owner earnings, for your own facility or for one you are considering, and read a value range against real storage business sales. An educational estimate, not a certified appraisal.