Stokley CRE Intelligence · Asset class
A structured view of the developments shaping industrial outdoor storage, and the situations those developments may create for owners, lenders and investors.
In short
Industrial outdoor storage (truck yards, equipment and container storage, and lots with little building coverage) kept outperforming traditional industrial into 2026. CBRE put average IOS rents at $13.14 per square foot in Q4 2025, a 17.9% premium over traditional industrial, with vacancy near 2.5%. Zoning keeps new supply scarce, so existing, properly zoned yards are valuable, but they're still often hard to finance quickly.
Current signals
$13.14
CBRE · Q4 2025
17.9%
CBRE · Q4 2025
~2.5%
CBRE · vs. 6.7% traditional industrial
30–50%
Matthews estimate · major metros · 2026
Sourced market view · 01
IOS has moved from a niche to an institutional asset class. CBRE's Q4 2025 data showed IOS rents averaging $13.14 per square foot against $10.85 for traditional industrial, with vacancy around 2.5% versus 6.7%. Matthews estimates 2025 transaction volume at $14–16 billion and says institutional buyers now drive roughly 35–45% of acquisitions, up from about 25–30% four years ago.
Sourced market view · 02
Lease terms and ownership are changing. Matthews reports average IOS lease terms stretching from 2–3 years in 2023 to 4–6 years in 2026 as institutional owners take over. The tenant base is widening beyond trucking to construction and building materials, equipment rental and utility infrastructure, with data center construction adding demand for laydown yards even as the trucking sector itself has been in a long contraction.
Sourced market view · 03
Supply is limited mostly by zoning, not land. Matthews estimates that in many major metros 30–50% of industrial-zoned land restricts IOS by right, and entitlement can take 9–18 months or longer. That makes a legally conforming, already-operating yard hard to replace. The sector is still very fragmented and was historically financed mostly by local and regional banks, so owners of one or two yards can run into financing timelines that don't match a sale, a buyout or a maturity.
Stokley analysis
We look at IOS the way we look at any real estate: what the site is legally allowed to be used for, what it would take to replace it, and the income it actually produces. On a yard, zoning and use rights matter as much as the tenant. Paving, drainage, fencing, lighting and environmental condition come next. A strong national rent premium doesn't help a site that isn't zoned for its current use. A well-located, conforming yard with a short-term tenant can still be a good real estate loan.
Opportunity lens
Buying a conforming truck, equipment or container yard from a long-time local owner, on a timeline a bank won't meet.
Sites between tenants, on month-to-month leases, or converting from owner-use to leased, where conventional lenders want seasoning first.
Paving, drainage, fencing, power or entitlement work that increases a yard's income, plus partner buyouts and maturities on small portfolios.
Questions answered
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