The four largest publicly traded U.S. self-storage REITs all report Q1 2026 results within a five-day window this week. Public Storage releases after market close on April 27. Extra Space follows on April 28, with a conference call at 1 p.m. ET on April 29. CubeSmart reports on April 30, with its call at 11 a.m. ET on May 1. National Storage Affiliates Trust, now mid-merger with Public Storage in an all-stock deal valued at $10.5 billion, is also in the queue.
This is the first quarterly earnings cycle since the sector signaled something resembling stabilization in late 2025. Heading into these reports, there are two competing reads on what to expect: the sector is working through the final leg of its supply overhang before a 2027 recovery, or the soft fundamentals are stickier than the bull case assumes. Q1 results, plus guidance updates, will do a lot to determine which camp has the better read.
StorageVault Canada, the country's largest publicly traded self-storage operator, already reported Q1 2026 results on April 22 and provided a useful early signal. Revenue grew to $85.2 million from $76.3 million in Q1 2025, an increase of 11.7% year-over-year. Same-store revenue rose 6.6% and same-store NOI increased 5.4%. The company increased its Q2 2026 dividend by 0.5%. Canada has a different supply dynamic than the U.S., but the operator-level execution visible in StorageVault's results, occupancy-driven pricing discipline, strong customer retention, is the model U.S. REITs are also targeting.
What Public Storage's Own Guidance Says About Q1
When Public Storage reported Q4 2025 results in February 2026, management was explicit: Q1 2026 would be the weakest quarter for move-in rents, with improvement expected across Q2 through Q4. That framing, combined with 2026 full-year guidance setting same-store revenue at negative 1.1% at the midpoint and same-store NOI at negative 2.2%, means analysts enter the Q1 call with low expectations already priced in.
Move-in rents declined 7% in January 2026 on a year-over-year basis, which the company described as a sequential improvement from late 2025 levels. Full-year core FFO guidance was set at $16.35 to $17.00 per share, a midpoint decline of 1.7% from 2025. The headwind is negative same-store NOI and refinancing costs. The partial offset is non-same-store NOI contribution and tenant insurance growth.
What investors will listen for on the April 27 call: whether January's move-in rent trend continued improving through March, whether the NSA integration is tracking to plan, and whether management is inclined to revise full-year guidance at this stage. Any upward revision, even a narrowing of the guidance range, would be read as a positive signal.
What the Sector-Wide Data Shows Heading In
National stabilized occupancy stood at 77.0% in Q4 2025, flat year-over-year, per Yardi Matrix. That number reflects the full market including smaller private operators. REIT-managed portfolios ran considerably higher: Extra Space Storage ended Q4 2025 at 92.6% occupancy, Public Storage at 91.0%, and Global Self Storage at 93.0%. The delta between REIT portfolios and the broader market reflects both the premium products REITs operate and the yield management infrastructure smaller operators don't have.
Street rates remained soft into the year. National average same-store advertised rates were down 0.2% year-over-year in January 2026, per available market data. The direction is the right one, but the gap to positive territory has not yet closed. Yardi Matrix's April 2026 market outlook pushes the supply forecast for 2026 slightly higher to 2.3% of existing inventory, down from 2.9% in 2025. Annual supply growth is projected to drop to 1.5% from 2025 to 2027, which is the core structural argument for a 2027 recovery in pricing power.
Self-storage REITs have rebounded in early 2026 driven by improving supply expectations and early signs of stabilization in same-store metrics. The bigger question for 2026 is whether slowing deliveries translates into faster occupancy recovery or whether softened demand keeps that from materializing.
- CRE Daily Market Analysis, 2026
What Extra Space and CubeSmart Need to Demonstrate
Extra Space Storage is the largest self-storage REIT by total managed locations, a position it consolidated through its 2023 acquisition of Life Storage. The company enters Q1 2026 with a 92.6% occupancy portfolio and a management fee income stream from the roughly 1,000 facilities it operates for third-party owners. That management income is relatively stable regardless of same-store performance, which gives Extra Space a partial buffer that pure-ownership operators don't have.
CubeSmart is the smallest of the three by market capitalization, with a concentration in high-barrier coastal and urban markets. Its 2025 performance benefited from that geography but was not immune to the sector-wide rate pressure. CubeSmart's 2025 Smart Facility of the Year designation went to a Nashville location, which points to an ongoing technology investment narrative the company will likely continue to emphasize on the April 30 call.
The number analysts will zero in on for both companies is new customer move-in rates as a percentage of existing customer rates. The spread between those two numbers has been the primary drag on revenue per occupied square foot for the past two years. Narrowing that spread is the first sign the pricing overhang is clearing.
Why the Transaction Market Adds Context to the Earnings Story
Self-storage transaction volume reached nearly $5 billion in 2025, up roughly 40% year-over-year and back to alignment with pre-pandemic norms after the record-setting 2020-2022 cycle. Cap rates have stabilized around 5.8% for institutional-quality product, with class-A assets ranging from 5% to 5.5% and class-B between 5.5% to 6.5%, according to Cushman & Wakefield's market data.
Nearly two-thirds of investors in Cushman & Wakefield's investor survey planned to be net buyers over the next 12 months. That's not a distressed market signal. The capital allocated to self-storage is patient and positioned for a rate recovery rather than discounting permanent impairment. If Q1 2026 REIT results confirm the improvement trajectory management guided to, expect transaction volume to accelerate further in Q2 and Q3 as investor confidence in the recovery thesis firms up.
The NSA merger is the wild card in the transaction market this year. Public Storage's acquisition of National Storage Affiliates Trust, which includes more than 1,000 properties across 37 states and Puerto Rico, creates a combined entity with a $57 billion equity market capitalization. How Public Storage integrates and reports on the NSA portfolio will reshape the benchmark data that the sector uses to evaluate performance for the next several quarters.
The Numbers Worth Writing Down
- Public Storage reports Q1 2026 after market close April 27; Extra Space on April 28; CubeSmart on April 30
- Public Storage 2026 full-year guidance: core FFO midpoint $16.68 per share, down 1.7% from 2025
- 2026 same-store revenue guidance (PSA): negative 1.1% at midpoint; NOI negative 2.2% at midpoint
- Move-in rents declined 7% year-over-year in January 2026, a sequential improvement from late 2025
- Extra Space occupancy: 92.6% at Q4 2025 close; Public Storage: 91.0%
- National stabilized occupancy: 77.0% in Q4 2025 (flat year-over-year)
- Supply pipeline: 2.3% of existing stock in 2026, down from 2.9% in 2025
- StorageVault Canada Q1 2026: same-store revenue up 6.6%, AFFO up 7.7%, dividend increased
- Self-storage transaction volume: nearly $5 billion in 2025, up 40% year-over-year
- Cap rates: stabilized at 5.8% for institutional product; class-A at 5.0% to 5.5%
- Public Storage's NSA acquisition: $10.5 billion all-stock deal; combined entity at $57 billion market cap
The Inflection Thesis Gets Tested This Week
The self-storage bull case heading into 2026 rests on one central argument: supply is moderating, and when it does, occupancy and rates recover in sequence. That argument is directionally correct on the supply data. The pipeline is narrowing. Deliveries are projected to fall to around 51 million square feet in 2026, down from higher levels the previous two years.
What the Q1 reports this week will test is whether demand is holding its end of the equation. Storage demand is correlated with housing mobility, and the U.S. housing market has not generated the turnover volume that typically drives storage demand at cycle peaks. Mortgage rate lock-in effects, persistently high home prices in most major markets, and muted household formation in certain demographics are all headwinds that show up in move-in volumes before they show up in same-store revenue.
If the REITs confirm that Q1 was the trough, as management guided, and that February and March showed improving move-in rate trends, the inflection thesis holds. If Q1 came in at or below the low end of guidance and management is reluctant to reaffirm the improvement trajectory, the 2027 recovery timeline slides. Either way, this week's calls will be the clearest read on where the sector actually stands.
Sources
- Self-Storage REITs Schedule Conference Calls to Discuss 1Q 2026 Financial Results, Inside Self-Storage
- Self-Storage REITs See Signs of Stabilizing Fundamentals, Supply Expected to Moderate, Nareit
- Self-Storage Market Outlook, April 2026, Yardi Matrix
- StorageVault Q1 2026 Earnings Release, GlobeNewswire
- Self-Storage REITs Outlook Improves in 2026, CRE Daily
- 2026 Self-Storage Forecast: Soft Fundamentals, Strong Liquidity, List Self Storage
- Cushman & Wakefield Self-Storage Market Trends and Sector Outlook, Cushman & Wakefield
- Public Storage Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results, Public Storage Investor Relations
- What a $10.5B Merger Could Mean for the Self-Storage Industry, Inside Self-Storage