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14 Oct, 2026
Analysis | Latest
Austin’s Self-Storage Comeback: Lightening Supply Fuels 2026 Rate Recovery
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Written by James McLean

James McLean is the Head of Business Development at Radius+. James helps maintain external relationships with clients and assisting internally with the sales process. He also, manages internal data processes working alongside the operations team to ensure we are supporting high level data quality.

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This week the Radius+ team took a look at the Austin, TX MSA. After two years of steep rate declines, Austin has become the comeback story among the major Texas markets in 2026, with summer asking rates up about 7% year over year. The recovery is happening as new supply slows to its lightest pace in a decade.

Historical Supply Growth

  • 2020: 5.1%
  • 2021: 3.5%
  • 2022: 2.3%
  • 2023: 2.2%
  • 2024: 3.1%
  • 2025: 2.6%
  • 2026 YTD: 1.4%

Austin rates peaked in July 2021 and slid for three and a half years, bottoming in early 2025 at about a third of that peak. Four years of moderate development let operators fill space without new competitors undercutting them, and by late 2025 year over year declines were nearly flat.

Demand was still constant in Austin. The metro added about 320,000 residents from 2020 to 2025, and projects like Samsung’s Taylor fab and the airport modernization keep bringing in jobs.

However, Austin is still absorbing the supply delivered in 2024 and 2025, and that is the real test. Year over year rate gains topped 10% in June and July, then flattened in August and September as the leasing season cooled.

One more signal to watch: multi-family permits are down about 52% year over year, which means fewer apartment move-ins feeding storage demand down the road.