In March 2026, SROA Capital sold a 15-property self-storage portfolio to Washington Street Investment Partners, the owner and operator of the LocalStorage Group brand, for $98 million. The properties sit in Florida, Kentucky, and South Carolina, total 832,000 rentable square feet across 6,600 units, and were running at 90% physical occupancy at closing. JLL Capital Markets represented SROA in the transaction.
The deal is notable for what it represents structurally, not just as a transaction. SROA Capital, one of the larger private self-storage acquisition platforms in the country, described the portfolio as part of one of its earlier funds. The buyers, Washington Street, were acquiring a stabilized, high-occupancy Southeast portfolio from an operator that had held the assets through their value-creation cycle and was now delivering returns to its investors. That is the definition of a secondary market fund exit. And it is the template for what mid-2026 self-storage deal flow increasingly looks like.
The private equity vintages that acquired self-storage assets heavily between 2018 and 2021 are reaching the end of their typical five-to-seven-year hold cycles. Global PE holding periods hit a record 6.6-year average in 2025, according to McKinsey's Global Private Markets Report, with approximately 16,000 portfolio companies across all sectors representing 52% of total buyout-backed inventory sitting beyond the four-year hold threshold. Many of those extended holds are now being forced to resolution in 2026 as fund timelines require exits.
Why 2026 Is the Secondary Market's Active Window
The self-storage deal market was quiet in 2022 and 2023. Cap rates expanded as interest rates rose sharply, the bid-ask spread between buyers and sellers widened substantially, and many fund managers chose to extend hold periods rather than sell into a repriced market. JLL and other brokers documented meaningful transaction volume drops across 2022 to 2024 as a result.
Two years of extensions did not eliminate the exit pressure. It delayed it. The assets that could not find buyers in 2023 and 2024 at 2021 valuations are now coming to market at adjusted prices reflecting the current cap rate environment. At the same time, operating fundamentals have stabilized: the self-storage sector was carrying a 96.8% occupancy rate as of the most recent national benchmarks, providing cash flow support for sellers who need to defend pricing even in a higher cap rate environment.
Q3 2025 set the tone for the recovery. Self-storage investment sales reached $1.6 billion in the quarter, a 62% jump year-over-year, with more than 260 facilities traded and 18.4 million square feet changing hands. That volume reflected the combination of fund exits, motivated debt maturities, and a buyer base that had been patient through the repricing cycle and was ready to deploy.
What the Debt Maturity Wall Adds to the Pipeline
Beyond PE fund timelines, a separate supply of motivated sellers is entering the market through loan maturities. The CRE debt maturity wave, which had been expected to peak in 2024 and 2025, was heavily extended by lenders. Those extensions are now crowding into 2026. The self-storage sector has approximately $3.7 billion in debt maturing in 2026.
For most stabilized self-storage assets, refinancing is available. The sector's occupancy levels, operating cash flow consistency, and low distress rates relative to office, retail, and multifamily give lenders confidence. But not all borrowers will refinance on favorable terms. Operators who acquired at 2021 cap rates with bridge debt, assumed above-market leverage, or built facilities that have not yet reached stabilization are facing refinance conditions that can force a sale.
Buyers who have clean balance sheets and immediate debt capacity are positioned to absorb those sales at adjusted prices. The cap rate environment for distressed or time-pressured sellers is materially different from stabilized portfolio trades: where a 90%-occupied, well-located Southeast portfolio like the SROA/Washington Street deal prices at approximately $118 per square foot and a sub-6% cap rate, a buyer acquiring a partially leased-up facility from a stressed borrower can often target 6.5% to 7.5% or better, depending on occupancy and market.
Who Is Buying in This Environment?
Non-REIT buyers have dominated self-storage transaction volume throughout the repricing cycle. In Q3 2025, non-REIT buyers accounted for 78% of self-storage transactions by count, paying an average of $133 per square foot. REIT buyers, which represent 22% of transactions, paid an average of $146 per square foot, reflecting their preference for Class A assets in markets where they already have operations.
The active private buyer universe includes well-capitalized operators like Washington Street Investment Partners, Merit Hill Capital, Andover Properties (Storage King USA), and StorageMart, plus a tier of institutional private platforms with committed acquisition capital still undeployed. SROA Capital itself is simultaneously a seller (earlier funds) and an active buyer (Fund VIII, which closed at $650 million oversubscribed and has already deployed capital into a $250 million 30-facility acquisition across 11 states).
The 1031 exchange buyer remains active in the sub-$10 million single-asset segment, though financing conditions have thinned that pool relative to the 2020 to 2022 period. Portfolio trades in the $25 million to $150 million range are where secondary market dynamics are most pronounced, and where the sponsor-to-sponsor transaction structure (one PE-backed platform selling to another) most frequently appears.
"The portfolio was part of one of our earlier funds, and we're proud to deliver strong returns to investors who have been with us for more than a decade. This reflects the quality of the assets and our disciplined approach to building long-term value."
- Benjamin Macfarland, Founder and CEO, SROA Capital
What Cap Rates Look Like in Mid-2026
The cap rate environment in mid-2026 reflects a repricing that largely completed through 2023 and 2024 and has since stabilized. Class A climate-controlled facilities in primary markets are trading in the 5.0% to 5.5% range. Class B assets in secondary markets clear at 5.5% to 6.5%. Class C and non-climate-controlled assets in tertiary markets are trading at 6.5% and above, with stress-sale scenarios occasionally reaching 7.0% to 7.5%.
That range represents a 75 to 125 basis point expansion from the peak compression levels of 2021, when Class A assets in primary markets were clearing at 4.5% or below. For buyers underwriting acquisitions today at a 5.75% to 6.25% stabilized cap rate on secondary market product, the math works at current debt service levels in a way it did not in 2022 or 2023, when rates were rising and the cap rate floor was unclear.
The REIT benchmark remains relevant to pricing psychology even for non-REIT transactions. REITs pay more per square foot (averaging $146 in Q3 2025) because they are buying in markets where platform synergies justify the premium: revenue management, branding rollover, and operational efficiency gains are faster to capture when the new acquisition is three miles from an existing facility. For independent operators or new entrants, the same asset without those synergies prices lower.
What Happens to NSA's Portfolio in the PSA Merger Context
The $10.5 billion Public Storage acquisition of National Storage Affiliates Trust will add more than 1,000 properties to the Public Storage platform when it closes. NSA currently operates through a franchise structure with independent Participating Regional Operators (PROs) across multiple states. How those relationships evolve under Public Storage ownership will affect asset availability in a number of markets.
Some PRO partners may seek to exit their arrangements or buy back assets rather than operate under a larger platform with different strategic priorities. That dynamic, combined with any regulatory or competitive overlay on overlapping markets, could surface additional portfolio opportunities for private buyers in the second half of 2026. Waterfall Asset Management's full exit from its NSA position in May 2026 (297,700 shares, approximately $10 million) ahead of the merger closing reflects one institutional read on near-term positioning around the deal.
The Numbers Worth Writing Down
- SROA Capital / Washington Street (March 2026): 15 properties, 832,000 sq ft, 6,600 units, $98 million, 90% occupancy; FL, KY, SC
- Price per unit: approximately $14,848; price per square foot: approximately $118
- SROA Capital Fund VIII: closed oversubscribed at $650 million; deployed $250 million into 30 facilities across 11 states
- Non-REIT buyers: 78% of Q3 2025 self-storage transactions by count, avg $133/sq ft
- REIT buyers: 22% of transactions, avg $146/sq ft
- Q3 2025 transaction volume: $1.6 billion, 62% increase year-over-year, 260+ facilities traded
- Global PE median holding period: record 6.6 years (McKinsey 2026); 16,000 companies beyond four-year hold threshold
- Self-storage sector debt maturities in 2026: approximately $3.7 billion
- Cap rates: Class A primary 5.0 to 5.5%; Class B secondary 5.5 to 6.5%; Class C/tertiary 6.5%+
The Secondary Cycle Has a Long Runway
PE funds do not exit all at once. The vintage distribution of self-storage-focused capital raised between 2017 and 2022 means the secondary pipeline will be active through at least 2028 for the most recent vintages. What changes over that period is the pricing environment: if debt costs fall, cap rate compression returns and sellers capture more value. If rates stay elevated, buyers retain the advantage.
For operators with capital and acquisition infrastructure in place, the secondary market is the most reliable source of portfolio-scale deal flow in the current environment. The REIT consolidation cycle (Public Storage absorbing NSA, the ongoing roll-up of third-party management portfolios) is concentrating the top of the market. The middle market, where PE fund exits and debt maturity pressure are creating supply, is where the transactions are happening and where buyers with discipline and access to capital are finding the best risk-adjusted entries.
Sources
- Washington Street Buys Self-Storage Portfolio From SROA, Inside Self-Storage
- 15-Property Self-Storage Portfolio Sells for $98 Million, JLL Capital Markets
- SROA Capital Closes Self-Storage Acquisition Fund VIII at $650M, Inside Self-Storage
- SROA Capital Buys 11-State Self Storage Portfolio, Multi-Housing News
- Self Storage Sales Reach Nearly $1.6B in Q3 2025 as Transaction Activity Jumps 62%, StorageCafe
- The Maturity Wall Moves to 2026: Why It Matters, Talonvest Capital
- Beating the Odds: How Private Equity Firms Can Improve Exit Prospects, McKinsey
- Cap Rate Expansion and Pricing Resets in 2026, Storage Point Capital
- Why One Fund's $10 Million National Storage Exit May Be More About the Public Storage Deal, Yahoo Finance / The Motley Fool
- Trends in Self-Storage Investing for 2026, Inside Self-Storage