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As readers of the Market Monitor have come to know, I think that low interest rates have been the best friend of self-storage owners over the last decade. It now appears that the long downward trend in interest rates has turned and rates are now heading upward. In the late spring and early summer rates for real estate loans, including self-storage, were literally at 50-year lows. Many real estate investors have gone through very long careers and never experienced these historically low interest rates and high valuations.   While predicting the future of interest rates is not a high percentage game, I think it is safe to say that in the short to intermediate term it would be reasonable for interest rates to continue to trend up, pushing self-storage values down.  Yes, there is a new sheriff in town! It is rising interest rates and inflation. Like many of you, I have been watching the stock market and treasuries closely over the last few weeks and the uncertainty that surrounds the economy and how we are going to curb rapidly rising inflation has never been more pronounced.