Self Storage Feasibility Study in Ohio

Ohio self storage and one dominant lender

Ohio's SBA self storage record is dominated by one lender. Live Oak Banking Company holds 27 of the state's 63 SBA 7(a) storage loans, worth $51.6 million, against Bank Five Nine with 9 worth $14.4 million and The Huntington National Bank with 9 worth only $1.2 million. Across all programs Ohio approved 86 storage loans worth $106.8 million from FY2017 to FY2026, ranking 9 of 50 among states, though storage sits only 18 of 39 among Ohio's classes, and a 0.66x location quotient leaves it under its national weight. The median of $846,500 is 0.91x the national storage median.

Size, programs and a fading pipeline

Ohio storage loans in the middle half run from $274,500 to $1.9 million. SBA 504 carried 23 loans, led by Ohio Statewide Development Corporation with 7 worth $4.2 million. Franchise or branded facilities take 7.0%. The geography is scattered, with Lorain and Summit Counties at 9 each, Delaware at 6 and Hamilton and Lucas at 5. Volume peaked at 20 loans worth $20.9 million in FY2021 and $22.1 million on 14 loans in FY2022, then fell to 4 loans in FY2024, 3 loans in FY2025 and just 2 in FY2026.

Clean losses so far

None of the 46 Ohio storage loans funded over FY2017 to FY2021 has a charge-off, and the Ohio floor stands at 0.00% overall and at five years. Cancellation ran to at least 9.9% of Ohio storage approvals over FY2017 to FY2024, rising to 12.3% on the ceiling. Both are floors, and the recent loans are too young to judge.

A feasibility study for an Ohio self storage facility has to prove demand close to the site: Ohio households, apartment renters and small businesses within a few minutes' drive, existing and planned supply per person, and the rents competitors actually achieve. It must cost land, buildings and climate control against a loan near $846,500, and show debt service coverage through the lease-up period. The appraisal will lean on stabilised income and a capitalisation rate, so the study's rent and occupancy path has to be defensible to the appraiser.

Ohio's RV and boat storage operators lack a separate code and are counted either as self storage or as other warehousing, so these figures cannot separate them from ordinary self storage.