TractIQ published Q1 2026 MSA-level REIT data on June 29, 2026, and the headline is deceptive: national achieved rent per occupied square foot moved within about two percentage points of flat across all five public operators, yet Extra Space's best market outperformed its worst by 19 percentage points in the same quarter, per TractIQ's companion dataset covering roughly 5,800 facilities and 420 million rentable square feet.
If you stopped at the portfolio average, you would call Q1 2026 quiet. You would also misprice deals in San Antonio, Richmond, and everywhere between.
What Did TractIQ Actually Release on June 29, 2026?
TractIQ's Q1 2026 Self-Storage REIT Report source data gives investors MSA-by-MSA realized rent per occupied square foot, year-over-year rent movement, and physical occupancy for Public Storage, Extra Space, CubeSmart, National Storage Affiliates, and SmartStop.
The dataset draws from operator disclosures across approximately 5,800 facilities. National totals look stable. Local spreads do not.
| REIT | National rent/occ sq ft YoY | Strongest market | Weakest market | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Storage | -2.1% | Minneapolis +4.8% | Austin -6.2% | 11 pp |
| Extra Space | +0.9% | Richmond +8.2% | San Antonio -11.1% | 19 pp |
| CubeSmart | -0.4% | Hartford +5.1% | Dallas-Fort Worth -10.5% | 16 pp |
| NSA | +1.1% | San Juan, PR +4.3% | San Antonio -7.3% | 12 pp |
| SmartStop | +1.3% | Chicago +6.2% | Port St. Lucie -4.3% | 11 pp |
Across all disclosed markets, about 53% posted rising rents and 47% posted falling rents. Realized rents ranged from under $11 per square foot in tertiary markets like Oklahoma City and Amarillo to nearly $56 per square foot in Honolulu.
Why Does a Flat National Average Hide a Split Market?
The universal same-store revenue growth every major REIT posted in Q1 2026 told one story at the portfolio level. TractIQ's MSA release tells another underneath.
Strength clustered in older, supply-constrained metros. St. Louis (+7.6%), Richmond (+8.2%), Indianapolis (+4.2%), Minneapolis (+4.8%), Boston (+4.3%), and Chicago (+3% to +6.2% across all four operators present there) led the pack. These are not high-growth Sun Belt markets. They are markets where zoning friction limits new deliveries and pandemic-era supply waves already passed.
Weakness was overwhelmingly a Sun Belt and Texas story. San Antonio fell 5.8% to 11.1% depending on operator. Austin slid as much as 7.3%. Dallas-Fort Worth ranged from roughly flat to down 10.5%. Florida cooled on occupancy: Tampa lost 2 to 4 points across every REIT, and coastal markets like Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Port St. Lucie gave back both rent and occupancy.
That pattern matches Yardi Matrix's May 2026 national report, which flagged Las Vegas and Florida metros Tampa, Sarasota-Cape Coral, and Orlando for limited year-over-year advertised rate growth while Minneapolis and Indianapolis were among only two top-30 metros posting positive annual gains.
How Can Two Operators in the Same MSA Post a 10-Point Gap?
The MSA average is still not enough for underwriting.
In Dallas-Fort Worth, Extra Space was essentially flat at -0.3% year-over-year while CubeSmart fell 10.5%. In Phoenix, physical occupancy ranged from 78.9% at one operator to 95.1% at another. Rent and occupancy frequently moved in opposite directions: some operators pushed rate while shedding occupancy; others traded rate to defend occupancy.
That is not random noise. It reflects submarket mix, asset vintage, lease-up exposure, and revenue-management strategy. Capright's June 2026 REIT update documented the same dynamic at portfolio scale: Public Storage's spread between contract rents and street rents widened from 11% in 2020 to 69% in Q4 2025 as operators leaned on existing-customer rate increases while discounting move-ins.
TractIQ's street-versus-achieved data puts a number on it: REITs achieved $20.66 per square foot while street rates averaged $16.52, a 25% premium up from 19.2% a year earlier.
What Should Operators and Buyers Do With MSA-Level Data?
Three operational implications follow from TractIQ's June release.
First, stop benchmarking acquisitions against national REIT averages. A deal in Richmond and a deal in San Antonio are not the same market cycle even when both sit inside a REIT's "flat" national print.
Second, treat Texas and Florida exposure as a supply-absorption problem, not a demand collapse. These markets absorbed the heaviest 2021-2023 development wave. The oversupply hangover is showing up in rate data, not occupancy free fall.
Third, use MSA-level comps when negotiating with sellers still pricing off 2022 peak assumptions. DXD Capital's Q1 2026 download projected deliveries falling from 59 million net rentable square feet in 2025 to 51 million in 2026. Supply is contracting nationally, but local absorption timelines still vary by years, not quarters. The same week, Cityvarasto tightened Helsinki share with a July 7 tuck-in while StorageClaw pushed operator-owned AI infrastructure: buyers and operators are optimizing locally, not waiting for a national recovery print.
The Numbers Worth Writing Down
- Data release date: June 29, 2026 (TractIQ Q1 2026 REIT companion dataset)
- Operators covered: PSA, EXR, CUBE, NSA, SMART
- Facilities in dataset: ~5,800 across ~420M rentable square feet
- National rent YoY range: -2.1% (PSA) to +1.3% (SmartStop)
- Widest intra-operator spread: 19 percentage points (Extra Space: Richmond +8.2% vs. San Antonio -11.1%)
- Markets with rising rents: ~53% of disclosed MSAs
- Achieved rent vs. street rate gap: 25% ($20.66 vs. $16.52 PSF)
- Honolulu high: ~$56 PSF achieved rent; Oklahoma City low: under $11 PSF
National Averages Are a Lagging Indicator
TractIQ's Q1 2026 MSA release is the dataset behind the "stabilization" narrative everyone repeats. Stabilization is real at the portfolio level. It is not uniform at the trade-area level.
The operators and buyers who win in H2 2026 will underwrite locally, benchmark against REIT-reported rent and occupancy in their specific MSA, and ignore anyone who quotes a flat national average as proof the market has turned.
Storage has always been a local business. TractIQ just put the spreadsheet behind the cliché.