Self-Storage ROI Calculator

Self-storage ROI calculator measures cap rate for storage facility investments. 2M facility, 200 units, 150/month average rent, 85% occupancy, 35% opex = 25,500 monthly gross potential, 255,000 annual revenue, 165k NOI, 8.3% cap rate. Self-storage typically 6-9% cap rate - higher than apartments due to operational simplicity.

Example: 2,000,000 self-storage facility, 200 units, 150 average monthly rent. Gross potential rent = 360,000 annual. 85% occupancy = 306,000 effective gross. 35% opex = 107,100. NOI = 198,900. Cap rate = 9.95%. Strong return reflects industry efficiency: minimal tenant management, low turnover, recession-resistant.

Self-storage advantages: (1) Recession-resistant (people downsize, store stuff, divorce, life events keep demand). (2) Low operational complexity vs multifamily. (3) Lower maintenance costs (basic doors and walls). (4) Fewer regulations than residential. (5) Often automated (kiosk check-in, app payments). (6) Insurance income stream (mandatory tenant insurance markup). Disadvantages: oversupply in some markets (recent build-out), commodity pricing competition, REIT-dominated industry.

A worked example

Try the defaults: facility price of 2,000,000, total storage units of 200, average monthly rent per unit of 150, occupancy of 85%. The tool returns 9.95%. You can adjust any input and the result updates as you type — no submit button, no reload. That's the real power here: seeing how sensitive the output is to one or two assumptions.

What moves the number most

The result responds to Facility Price, Total Storage Units, Average Monthly Rent per Unit, Occupancy %, and Operating Expense Ratio %. Not every input has equal weight. Adjusting one input at a time toward extreme values shows which ones move the result most.

The formula behind this

Effective gross = units × rent × occupancy × 12. NOI = effective gross × (1-opex). Cap rate = NOI / price. Everything the calculator does is shown in the formula box below, so you can check the math against your own spreadsheet if you want.

Why investors run this

Most people's intuition for compounding is wrong — not because the math is hard, but because linear thinking doesn't account for curves. Running numbers through a calculator like this one is the cheapest way to recalibrate that intuition before making an irreversible decision about contribution rate, asset mix, or retirement age.

What this doesn't capture

Steady-rate math ignores real-world volatility. Actual returns are lumpy; sequence-of-returns risk matters most in drawdown; fees and taxes drag on compound growth; and behaviour changes in drawdowns can reduce outcomes below the projection. The number represents one scenario rather than a forecast.