Self Storage Feasibility Study in South Carolina

South Carolina self storage: the large-ticket outlier

Self storage in South Carolina is defined by loan size. The $1.5 million median is 1.56x the nationwide storage median, with half of all loans between $710,000 and $2.6 million. SBA approved 59 loans over FY2017 to FY2026 worth $104.3 million. The state ranks 15 of 50 and storage ranks 11 of 39 among South Carolina classes, while a location quotient of 2.25x marks the class as far heavier here than the national book. Loan size, more than any other measure, sets this cell apart.

Live Oak Banking Company holds 33 loans and $64.6 million, an extraordinary concentration against Bank Five Nine, with 6 loans and $5.7 million. Programs split 47 under 7(a) and 12 under 504, and franchising is 0.00%. Put plainly, storage financing here runs through a single specialty lender, which is both a source of expertise and a concentration risk. A lender entering the market should expect to compete against that depth.

Counties and cycles

Lexington County leads with 8 loans, Anderson and York have 7 each, and Berkeley, Greenville and Sumter have 4. Annual counts ran 8 in FY2017 at $19.1 million, a single year that stands out, then 1 in FY2019 at $430,000, and 9 in both FY2021 and FY2022. FY2026 shows 4 loans worth $10.0 million.

South Carolina storage approvals were cancelled at a floor of 8.3% up to FY2024, with a ceiling of 10.4%. South Carolina publishes no charge-off figure here; the early disbursed group is too thin, and that silence is no sign of a spotless record.

What a South Carolina storage study has to test

With median loans this large, the study must justify the scale: how many rentable square feet the submarket can absorb, existing supply within a short drive, street rates against the pro forma, and lease-up speed. Cost has to separate land, climate-controlled construction and sitework. Coverage should be run on a stabilized and a delayed lease-up case, since the loan is large against early income. The appraisal should cap stabilized income at a sensible rate and not rely on a forward sale. Recreational vehicle and boat yards share the storage category, since no code of their own exists for them, so some loans fund something slightly different.