Steel in the Air, INC.

Comparable Tower Sales - Cell Towers and Broadcast Towers / HOME

Comparable Tower Sales - Cell Towers and Broadcast Towers

Tower owners, appraisers, and tax assessors frequently contact us about comparable tower sales and pricing for towers. That's because there is not a publicly available source for this kind of data. The assessors' office rarely sees the information regarding tower sales because most towers are on leased property and are considered personal property, so the sale is rarely recorded. The public and private tower companies don't frequently report what they paid for or received in the sale of towers. If they do report anything, there usually isn't enough information included in the press release to determine whether or not the portfolio was comparable to yours.

Towers are bought and sold utilizing a "Multiple of Tower Cash Flow". This multiple is determined by evaluating objective and subjective criteria. Objective criteria include; revenue, expenses, number and type of tenants, remaining capacity on the tower, rural/suburban/urban morphology, and proximity of competitive towers. Subjective criteria include; potential for future use by other wireless providers, barriers to entry for additional towers, quality of tenant roster, and other criteria reviewed by each buyer differently.

To fully understand and compare tower sales, it's important to also understand the underlying assets in the sale of comparable portfolios. How are the towers in the comparable tower portfolio similar? How are they different? Are they better situated than the subject towers? Most importantly, how do the differences impact the appropriate multiple?

At Steel in the Air, Inc., we maintain a substantial database of comparable sales consisting of over 100 separate tower transactions -- a number of which have occurred in just the last couple months. This database includes information for the subjective and objective criteria for those comparable sales listed in our database. We regularly rely on this information to determine the appropriate value for our client's portfolios. We help them understand the current market dynamics and what trends we predict that will either increase or decrease sale prices for tower portfolios, now and in the future. We don't sell this data outright -- it consists of many private transactions that we can't share. We can however, rely on this information to create accurate valuations of communication towers and portfolios.

If you found this page while searching for data on comparable tower sales, please contact us. We have received many inquiries lately from small tower owners and companies whose core business is not tower operations. But usually, they've received a purchase offer for their towers and want to compare the offer to others. In most cases though, the offers are not fair but the small tower owner has little reason to know this. That's where we can help.

If you have a tower portfolio and want a verbal estimate of its value, we are happy to provide one at no cost. All we need is the tower level data, expenses and revenue as well as location to provide you with an accurate assessment. While there is no commitment required from you to receive an estimate, it is our hope that you will retain our services to assist you in the sale of your tower. Just contact us for more information.

Please note that this offer for a free estimate doesn't apply unless you are the actual owner of the steel. If you own the ground underneath the tower and are leasing to the tower owner, please visit our page on Cell Tower Lease Buyouts.