R. Christian Sonne CRE, MAI, FRICS, joined Newmark Valuation & Advisory in 2019 and currently serves as executive vice president and national practice co-leader for the Valuation & Advisory’s self storage specialty practice. He oversees a team of 20 specialists located throughout the US with industry expertise and local market knowledge. His team delivers best-in-class valuation and consulting services for the self storage asset class. They execute over $2 billion in quarterly valuations for institutional investors in the sector and complete over 500 single asset appraisals in self storage annually throughout the U.S.
Due to his sector expertise, Sonne completes real time data and research for market reports, feasibility studies, appraisal, portfolio analytics and consulting services related to the economics of self storage. He has been published over 100 times on articles relating to self storage including the annual Self Storage Expense Guidebook and Investor Survey (podcasts and articles can be found at the Self Storage Resource Center: https://bit.ly/3li1lRo).
The Appraisal Institute published his book “Self Storage Economics and Appraisal” in 2012. Sonne also authored the Appraisal Institute seminar on self storage in 2004 and taught in 12 states. He has been a featured or keynote speaker at over 50 industry events throughout the US and made presentations on sector performance in Canada, England and Japan.
Since beginning his career in valuation in 1984, Sonne has worked with clients on a wide variety of core and specialty property types at Deloitte, Bank of America and at his own firm The Sonne Group from 1993 to 2006. Recognizing the unique characteristics and high returns of self storage, he specialized in self storage in 1998 and formed Self Storage Economics. Prior to joining Newmark, he served as the founder and Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield’s Valuation & Advisory practice’s Self Storage Valuation Group, which he expanded nationally and most recently as Managing Director of CBRE Valuation & Advisory practice’s Self Storage group.
Professional Affiliations
- Former Chairperson for the Southern California Chapter of the Appraisal Institute’s Government Relations Committee
- Member, Self Storage Association
- Member, California Self Storage Association
Licenses and Designations
- MAI designation, Appraisal Institute
- CRE designation, the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE)
- Fellow, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS)
- Certified general real estate appraiser, states of California, New York and Hawaii
Education
Sonne earned his Bachelor of Science in Political Science from The University of Utah.