Cubby says median REIT store cut its 10x10 online rate 8.6% in peak season; independents barely moved

Cubby, a platform for self-storage, said in a release for State of Self Storage Q3 2026, its first quarterly report, that the median REIT store lowered its 10x10 online rate 8.6% from May through September. Independent operators, it said, stayed within half a point of May levels. The Oct. 28 release does not define REIT or independent, or say how many stores sit behind these figures. Cubby’s data combines stores and tenant records on its platform with competitive rates from StorTrack for 50,000+ US stores, and the release does not say which source each figure uses.

Cubby said stores on its platform reached 80.4% same-store occupancy, up 2.9 points from a year earlier. Average move-in rents fell 4.4% while revenue per available square foot rose 4.9%, it said, with no period or base. Only stores that cut starting rents by more than 10% grew move-ins, by 5.2%, and 38% of stores cut that deep.

It also said three in four single-store owners left their online rate unchanged. Among tenants of 12 months or more, 8.5% moved out within 90 days after an increase under 8%, against 7.9% with no increase and 16.0% at 25% or more. It did not report the bands in between or say how increases were assigned, so the figures show an association only.