Q2 Storage Preview: Can Fundamentals Inflect on Improving Supply Alone?

Research evidence excerpt

Q2 Storage Preview: Can Fundamentals Inflect on Improving Supply Alone?

Real Estate | Storage

July 06, 2026

Michael Griffin, CFA Q2 Storage Preview: Can Fundamentals

212-752-0886

Michael.Griffin@evercoreisi.com Inflect on Improving Supply Alone?

Steve Sakwa ◼ The storage REITs have had a good run so far this year,

212-446-9462 outperforming REITs overall by 320bp thru 6/30 (storage Steve.Sakwa@evercoreisi.com

+20.8% vs. REITs +17.6%). While June operating updates

were ahead of expectations and the supply picture

continues to improve per our monthly supply note (here), it

appears that organic, top-of-funnel demand has not

materially improved amid a subdued housing market and

modest job growth.

◼ The key areas of focus for this earnings season center on

insights into pricing and the interplay with customer demand

during the seasonally stronger rental season. ECRI

strategies, particularly as it relates to the burn off of the State

of Emergency in CA and how this could be a tailwind to

same store growth, will be topical as well. Lastly, it will be

interesting to hear how the REITs are leveraging new

technologies including AI to hone their customer acquisition

strategies.

◼ On the transaction front, the most notable news during Q2

was PSA’s acquisition of PS Canada in a cash & OP unit

deal (thoughts here) as they continue to expand their

external growth efforts. Deal activity, including updated

thoughts on the transaction markets and insights into cap

rates & JV opportunities will be topical as the private market

is still aggressively pricing storage assets and there remains

a strong bid for institutional quality product.

◼ While we are still expecting an inflection in SS growth for

’27, we trimmed our top-line assumptions despite an