Q1 Storage Wrap Up & MSA Analysis

Research evidence excerpt

Q1 Storage Wrap Up & MSA Analysis

Real Estate | Storage

May 11, 2026

Michael Griffin, CFA Q1 Storage Wrap Up & MSA Analysis

212-752-0886 Q1 earnings were in line to slightly better than expectations and

Michael.Griffin@evercoreisi.com

generally reflected a backdrop of muted top-line growth but Steve Sakwa

212-446-9462 stabilizing fundamentals. SS revenue trends were flat to slightly

Steve.Sakwa@evercoreisi.com positive, supported by improved pricing on move-ins and

continued customer stickiness. That said, overall demand

remains tepid with little evidence of a meaningful inflection.

Guidance was maintained across the board ahead of the

upcoming key leasing season. Consistent with recent quarters,

Coastal & Midwest markets continue to outperform while

Sunbelt markets still lag.

Despite mortgage rates remaining elevated and the housing

market largely stagnant, underlying fundamentals have at least

found some footing. That said, demand at the top of the funnel

appears largely unchanged, as the overall pool of customers has

yet to expand. While reduced supply could offer some support

to the sector, a more durable recovery will likely depend on a

meaningful improvement in housing market conditions which we

are not anticipating (and neither are the REITs) in the near-to-

medium term.

Our ’26 core FFO ests. are 20bp below the Street while our ’27

core FFO ests. are 60bp above consensus. See below for an

overview of our ests. across our storage coverage and note that

averages exclude NSA given its pending acquisition by PSA.

◼ FFO Growth: We expect core FFO growth for ’26 for the

sector overall of -0.3% vs. REITs at +5.9%. Looking ahead

to ’27, we model +3.9% core FFO growth for the group vs.

+6.9% for REITs overall.

◼ Occupancy & Rate: We model 91.9% SS occupancy in ’26,