---
title: "Why can a traditional self-storage pro forma fall behind the market?"
description: "**Short answer:** A traditional pro forma is a snapshot: market data turned into assumptions at one point in time, with the whole project planned around them. Self-storage moves slowly from idea to open doors, while supply, pricing practices and demand…"
url: "https://creatingwealththroughselfstorage.com/docs/why-self-storage-pro-formas-fall-behind/"
updated: "2026-10-24"
category: Financial Analysis
---

# Why can a traditional self-storage pro forma fall behind the market?

**Short answer:** A traditional pro forma is a snapshot: market data turned into assumptions at one point in time, with the whole project planned around them. Self-storage moves slowly from idea to open doors, while supply, pricing practices and demand in a trade area can change quickly. Mark’s view is that pro formas need to work more like a movie than a picture, updating as the market changes, and he expects AI built into existing platforms to make that possible.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)

## How the usual process works

Acquisition-minded owners subscribe to data platforms such as Radius+, TractIQ, StorTrac or Yardi Matrix. That data becomes assumptions for things like rental rates, market health and how fast a project will absorb new square feet. Those assumptions go into Excel or a tool like the [Storage World Analyzer](/analyzer/) to build a financial model of the future.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)

Mark says this has worked well for most of his career, largely because self-storage has fewer variables affecting the NOI line than office, retail or multifamily. Investors also lean heavily on the pro formas they are shown.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)

## Why the snapshot falls behind

- **Slow projects.** Entitlements, design, fundraising, due diligence and loan approval all take longer than expected.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)
- **Fast-changing markets.** By the time new space or an expansion opens, the market, rents and demand may have changed a lot.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)
- **Outside forces.** New supply and revenue pricing practices can reshape a trade area while a project is still being built.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)

Mark’s point is that the original assumptions weren’t necessarily wrong. The plan was built around a picture that no longer matches the market, so owners end up pivoting in the field: adding parking, adjusting rental rates aggressively to fill units, or selling.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)

## What Mark thinks comes next

Mark doesn’t think the answer is more data, better dashboards or new platforms. He thinks it will be AI embedded in existing platforms, removing the friction between changing data and existing models. He pictures pro formas that update with current trade-area information such as real-time and monthly pricing trends, historical averages, facility-level pricing history and web and in-store rates, delivered as they change or on a schedule the owner sets, such as quarterly.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)

Because each trade area differs from the next, and changes over time, Mark believes models that stay closest to the actual market, trade area by trade area, will win out. He has put the release of the updated Storage World Analyzer on hold while he explores how to build in this kind of adjustment.^[[1]](#kb-src-1)

Any model is still an estimate based on its assumptions, not a prediction or guarantee. Talk with your lender and advisors about the numbers for a specific project.

## Related answers

- [How is net operating income (NOI) calculated for a self-storage facility?](/docs/how-to-calculate-noi-self-storage/)
- [Why can the market change before a new self-storage project or expansion opens?](/docs/market-changes-before-self-storage-project-opens/)
- [What trends are shaping the future of self-storage?](/docs/future-of-self-storage-trends/)

## Sources

Each numbered note above links to the post of Mark’s it comes from.

1. [Our Proformas Are Living in the Past – It Is Time To Change That](/our-proformas-are-living-in-the-past-it-is-time-to-change-that/), Mark Helm, October 23, 2026

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