President, Chief Executive Officer & Trustee, National Storage Affiliates
Search every verified David Cramer interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. David Cramer, president and CEO of National Storage Affiliates Trust, said in July 2025 that the company's consumer base metrics are "very healthy," noting that tenant behavior has been durable with no changes in length of stay or ability to pay bills. He stated that the self-storage sector has historically shown resilience during economic uncertainty and that the company has found "good solid footing for rate," with encouraging signs of upward trends, though slower than desired. Cramer also said that transition in the housing market is important for the business and that the appetite for the product remains "very vigorous," with steady investor interest. In an April 2025 interview, Cramer discussed the company's growth since its IPO 10 years ago, from approximately 250 properties to nearly 1,000, with a total enterprise value of about $9 billion. He noted that the company internalized its Pro structure in 2024, consolidating from 12 brands to 7 under a single domain name to improve digital visibility and operational efficiencies. Cramer said that new supply in the sector is declining and expected to remain below historical averages, which he described as positive for the industry, and that the housing market is "bouncing around its bottom," with a recovery expected to drive additional demand for self-storage.
“Our current tenant behavior has been very durable. We have not seen any change in their length of stay patterns or their ability to pay bills. All the metrics we study are very very healthy from our consumer base which is encouraging given the economic uncertainty that's going on right now.”
“The self-storage sector has historically demonstrated resilience during economic uncertainty. The sector generally responds very very well in a lot of different economic conditions and that's been one of the things I really appreciate about the sector.”
“We have found good solid footing for rate. We think we're inflecting off the bottom and from our seat, we like and see encouraging signs, albeit a little slower than we may want coming out of the bottom. We are starting to see encouraging upward trends.”
“Transition is good for our business. Particularly in our portfolio, the housing market's an important piece of our business just because where our properties are located.”
“The appetite for the product remains very very vigorous. It's a good sector. There are lots of investors who want to be in the sector. So from the appetite of buying new properties, wanting to enter the market, it's still very very steady and strong.”
“During the past couple years, you saw a lot of focus into the Sun Belt, which has created a lot of new supply in the Sun Belt. As you think about those markets, they're facing a few more challenges just because of the supply demand ratio. But we believe long-term that the Sun Belt markets are very very healthy and we h...”
“We are a self storage REIT and we're actually celebrating our 10th anniversary of our IPO this year. We've grown rapidly over those 10 years from approximately 250 storage properties with a total enterprise value of a billion dollars at IPO to almost 1,000 properties today with a total enterprise value of approximately...”
“We operate in 42 states and Puerto Rico, with approximately two-thirds of our portfolio in the Sun Belt. We've focused on delivering healthful returns over the long term through a combination of internal and external growth, and we've led our peers in total return since IPO with a current dividend yield of about 6%, ha...”
“Self storage is a fragmented market with 67% of all self storages run by non-sophisticated operators who typically run one to three stores. Our unique Pro structure brought regional operators together to build better scale, platforms, technology, and external growth success.”
“In 2024, we internalized all the Pros and collapsed the Pro structure, putting us in a position for our next phase of growth. This consolidation brings immediate savings around G&A and operational efficiencies, which is accretive for our portfolio.”
“New supply in the self storage sector is really starting to come down and is expected to remain below long-term historical averages, which is good for our sector. Additionally, the housing market is bouncing around its bottom, and as it recovers, it will drive additional demand for self storage benefiting occupancy and...”
“Self storage has been resilient in recessions historically because transition creates demand. Even if people downsize or move across the country for jobs or to consolidate households, self storage generally does better than most sectors during economic downturns.”
“By consolidating the Pro structure, we have immediate savings around G&A and operational efficiencies. We reduced from operating 12 brands to 7, unified them under a single domain name, which dramatically improves our digital footprint and visibility with platforms like Google and social media.”
“We have great geographic exposure with a diversified portfolio operating in Sun Belt and secondary markets, which are more sensitive to the housing recovery we expect. Being smaller than our peer group means external growth moves our needle quicker, and the industry is still ripe for consolidation.”
David Cramer, president and CEO of National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE: NSA), sat down for a video interview during Nareit's ...
National Storage Affiliates (NSA) is the fourth-largest self-storage REIT ($4.8B market cap), owning and managing over 1000 ...
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