Chris Marr, president and CEO of CubeSmart L.P. (NYSE: CUBE), joined REIT.com for a CEO Spotlight video interview at NAREIT's 2017 Washington Leadership Forum at The Hay-Adams.
Marr commented on the share prices of the self-storage sector during 2016. He said the market has struggled to price the sector's slowing rate of growth.
“We’re a bit of a challenging business to model,” Marr said. He noted that 6 percent of self-storage customers vacate each month, resulting in “a high-turnover business with high occupancies.”
Marr also discussed some of the benefits associated with investing in "fortress" markets like New York and Washington, D.C. Even with new supply entering the New York market, Marr pointed out that storage space per capita will only increase to about 1.6 square feet, compared with an industry average of about 7 square feet. He described New York as “a dynamic market that will produce long-term returns.”
Meanwhile, Marr highlighted some of the benefits of CubeSmart’s rapidly growing involvement with third-party management. They include a built-in pipeline of potential acquisitions and increased points of distribution, he said.