About David Cramer
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.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from David Cramer's recent appearances.
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Transcript (9 segments)
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David Cramer0:00
So the message we're telling everybody is 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.
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Interviewer0:17
I'm here today with David Cramer, president and CEO of National Storage Affiliates Trust. David, thanks for joining us today.
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David Cramer0:23
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
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Interviewer0:24
The self-storage sector has historically demonstrated resilience during economic uncertainty. Is that the case today? And are you seeing any changes in customer behavior or health?
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David Cramer0:34
It's a good question. The sector generally responds very well in a lot of different economic conditions, and that's been one of the things I've been at this 27 years that I really appreciate about the sector. 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 healthy from our consumer base, which is encouraging given the economic uncertainty that's going on right now.
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Interviewer1:00
And in your meetings with investors this week, is there a key strategic theme that you're focusing on?
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David Cramer1:06
Yeah, we've really been working with the group about, you know, we've had an interesting ride as a sector and particularly as a company with NSA around. We came onto an amazing time coming into the pandemic and coming out of the pandemic. Had some of the best results we've ever seen down to a housing market that's been very slow. And for us, 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. So the message we're telling everybody is 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.
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Interviewer1:44
Are you seeing any geographic shifts in demand or investment focus within your asset class? And if so, what's driving these changes?
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David Cramer1:51
You know, the appetite for the product remains very vigorous. It's a good sector. It's been a good sector over the years. 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 steady and strong. The geographic focus, 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. And so 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 healthy and we have a very strong presence in those Sun Belt markets. But geography wise, storage works in a lot of markets. We operate in 41 states. We have a very diverse portfolio. So overall, we think very healthy in most of our markets.
