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By Vytas Norusis, MAI, Executive Vice President
Industrial Outdoor Storage continues to gain traction. The conversations at the National Association of Industrial Outdoor Storage (NAIOS) Atlanta Conference made it clear that the sector is moving into a more mature and increasingly competitive phase.
Attendance tells part of the story. The conference grew from roughly 450 attendees in 2025 to more than 700 in 2026, reflecting the level of interest and capital flowing into the space. But what stood out more was how investors and operators are approaching IOS today.
As IOS evolves, so does investment strategy.
Understanding your counterparty matters more than ever. Public and private groups often come to the table with different priorities. Some are focused on occupancy, others on rent growth, and many are balancing flexibility in ways that go beyond price alone.
Underwriting is also getting more thoughtful. Tenant productivity is becoming a central focus. The more functional and efficient a site is for the tenant, the more it supports long term rent growth and performance.
IOS is not a passive asset class.
Success comes from staying engaged at both the asset and portfolio level. Owners are continuously looking for ways to improve operations, enhance usability, and get more out of each site. More than ever, returns are driven by how well you execute after the deal closes.
Infrastructure continues to be a major driver of demand.
Data centers, rail expansion, and broader logistics investment are all supporting industrial growth, which in turn supports IOS. These trends are not new, but they continue to reinforce the sector.
We are also seeing IOS follow a path similar to other asset classes. Self-storage is a good example. It helped establish a playbook around operations, scalability, and institutional adoption that is now showing up in IOS.
Even with growing institutional interest, IOS is still very much a local business.
Zoning, entitlement, and municipal relationships can make or break a deal. Getting in front of those conversations early goes a long way in avoiding issues later and improving certainty of execution.
There is more capital in the space, and that is changing how deals get done.
Price is still important, but it is not the only factor. Sellers are paying close attention to certainty of close, track record, and whether a buyer can execute consistently. In a crowded bid process, those factors often carry real weight.
Most people at the conference described IOS as being in the third inning. There is still runway ahead, but the pace of change is picking up.
There is a lot of optimism heading into the second half of 2026. Larger deal sizes are coming to market, giving institutional buyers a clearer entry point. At the same time, there is an understanding that discipline still matters. The opportunity is there, but so is the need to execute carefully.
