Kris Benson, Chief Investment Officer, Reliant Real Estate Management discusses the opportunity in self-storage and real estate as whole.
Reliant Real Estate Management, based in Roswell, Georgia, is a vertically integrated self-storage operator. The boutique firm specializes in managing and investing in quality self-storage facilities across the United States.
Since purchasing its first property in 2007, Reliant has become one of the largest self-storage operators in the industry. Reliant has successfully sold 22 properties and currently has 50 facilities in seven states. Generally, an allocation to real estate can help deliver diversification, long-term enhanced returns, as well as certain tax benefits.
Historically, the real estate asset class has offered investors steady returns and income, without the volatility of traditional equity markets. The self-storage asset class, specifically, has performed exceptionally well over the last few decades. According to the NAREIT, self-storage has achieved a 16.85% annualized rate of return over the last 25 years, outperforming its more well known peers: apartments, retail, office, and the S&P.
Benson also points to the resiliency of the self-storage industry, noting consistent demand for storage even during times of recession and market downside. While the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt certain real estate sectors such as office, shopping malls and multi-family, demand for self-storage has continued to rise, making it one of the top performing and reliable real estate sectors broadly.
“Self-Storage has been one of the best historically performing asset classes in real estate over the past 25 years. That coupled with the recession resilience shown in 2007-2009 and again during the COVID-19 pandemic makes it a very attractive hedge for any portfolio,” says Benson.
As CIO at Reliant, Benson is a member of the company’s investment committee that is responsible for overseeing the company’s new acquisitions. Benson also oversees the equity portion of Reliant’s capital markets and the investor relations team. In the last 12 months the Reliant team has invested over $100MM in self-storage projects and raised over $50MM in equity primarily from a substantial retail investor network.
Self-Storage provides a unique opportunity to invest in one of the most recession resilient asset classes and take advantage of the institutional interest moving forward post COVID. Reliant is currently raising equity for a $50MM equity fund focusing on value add and stabilized self-storage assets across the U.S.
To learn more, register and watch Reliant’s webcast: Opportunities In Real Assets: Self Storage. This in-depth presentation covers:
- 3 Reasons To Invest In Alternative Real Estate Solutions
- Trends In Investing In Self Storage
- Historical Performance
- Underwriting & Risk Considerations