Explainer · data
Sale-leaseback cap rates — from the book, not a brochure
Cap-rate bands on this page come from single-tenant sales in our internal transaction book. Sample sizes are shown. Cells with fewer than five sales are withheld. A withheld cell is not a hint. It is a blank.
Written by Dwaine Clarke , Founder & Principal Broker, American Net Lease, LLC Reviewed
On this page: The band · Method · What a cap is not · FAQ
From our book, not a brochure
Cap-rate bands by sector and guarantee.
Refreshed weekly from closed and marketed single-tenant sales tracked in our internal system. Sample sizes shown; cells under five sales are withheld.
Read the methodology →| Sector | Franchisee / operator | Corporate | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| QSR | 5.50% – 6.25% | 4.70% – 5.84% | 65 |
| Car wash | — | — | — |
| Auto service | 6.00% – 6.25% | 5.35% – 6.25% | 5 |
| Convenience & fuel | — | 4.84% – 5.16% | 56 |
| Dollar / discount | — | 6.43% – 7.11% | 34 |
| Medical / dental | — | — | — |
Trailing 12 months · as of September 11, 2026 · source: American Net Lease internal transaction book. Cells with fewer than five sales are withheld.
Method notes
A published band is a sample. A dash is a withhold. Neither is your price.
The table above is the full-width book. Every numeric cell is a published number or a blank. Blanks render as an em dash. A book — operator or corporate — with fewer than five sales is written back as blanks so a thin sample cannot leak through as a published band. That withhold footnote is always shown.
Until a cell is publishable, this page does not offer a number — and we will not invent a cap rate to fill the dash.
What the band is
A cap rate is annual NOI divided by price. On a sale-leaseback, NOI is essentially the rent you author, because the tenant (you) carries the operating expenses under a triple net or absolute net form. The calculator uses the same identity: value equals rent divided by cap rate. The cap is the part the book can speak to when the sample is large enough.
Sectors in the table follow the book keys: QSR, car wash, auto service, convenience and fuel, dollar and discount, medical and dental. Industrial and childcare verticals do not join a book sector on purpose — those pages stay off the index until they have their own unique data point.
What a cap is not
A sector band is not a Portfolio Capital Analysis. It is not the price of a store with thin rent coverage, a short primary term, or a guarantee that does not match the column. It is not a reason to skip lease engineering.
The longer public method lives on the net-lease cap-rate report. Use this page for the sale-leaseback book view; use the commercial sale-leaseback guide and the process when you want the lease modeled before anyone quotes a cap. The operator hub is the program door.
Size a first pass in the sale-leaseback calculator, read the commercial sale-leaseback guide and the operator hub, then the Restaurants & QSR franchisees , Medical , and Car wash . When you want a confidential read on your own roofs, request a Portfolio Capital Analysis.
Questions
Cap-rate FAQ
Why are the cells dashes?
The committed book is still a null seed, or a sector-guarantee book has fewer than five sales. Cells under five are written back as blanks. We do not invent a band to fill the table.
Is a sector band the price of my store?
No. A band is a sample of comparable sales. Your rent, coverage, remaining term, and guarantee move you inside or outside that range. The analysis prices the lease you can actually support.
What is the difference between operator and corporate columns?
The investor is underwriting the obligor on the lease. An operator or franchisee guarantee is not the parent on the fascia. Corporate and operator books are stored separately for that reason.
Where is the longer methodology?
The net-lease cap-rate report walks the public research method. The table on this page is the sale-leaseback book view — trailing twelve months, source on the band, withhold footnote always shown.
Get a confidential read instead of a pasted band.
The analysis uses your rent and coverage. It does not paste a brochure cap onto your stores.