Self storage is a basic need for many people these days. They are families who live in small homes or apartments, those moving to a new home, single people moving to a new place of work or students who are moving to new school away from home.
There's no denying that the demand for this kind of facility continues to remain high. This fact has led investors to build more structures to keep up with the demand. Today, self storage is considered the fastest growing commercial real estate industry in the U.S. and growth is seen to continue moving forward.
Global trend
As of 2009, there were 58,000 self storage facilities around the world. Of this figure, 46,000 were in the U.S. covering a rental space of approximately 2.35 billion square feet. Statistics also show that some 3,000 new storage facilities were constructed every year for a five year period from 2000 to 2005.
Data from 2006 revealed that compared to the U.S., Australia has 22 million of rentable square feet while the U.K. had 20 million.
Self storage is in high demand in the U.S. In fact, revenue from this industry is said to be more than what Hollywood earns. In addition, one in 10 Americans were found to be renting a unit.
Popularity
Originally, these rental units were meant to provide storage space only for the short term. These days, however, more than 96 percent of tenants stay for more than a year with some renting space for even several years.
The popularity of this facility continues right now and showing no signs of waning in the coming years. A 2011 survey by SelfStorage.com reported that 73 percent of facility owners claimed steady revenue or revenue growth from the previous year.
An interesting fact you might want to know is that owing to self storage's popularity, it has inspired two new television programs that first aired in 2010. These are the Storage Wars and Auction Hunters that focus on storage auctions. These auctions are conducted to sell the item at self storage units abandoned or not paid by the tenants. The hosts of the shows are given a challenge each time which is to find rare items that can sell for a high amount when auctioned. They should then be able to profit well from the items.
Business
On the business side, many companies are looking into purchasing properties notably high-quality ones. Merchant builders are also building, leasing and selling self storage properties targeted at cash flow investors. Meanwhile, owners continue to enjoy strong cash flows although some are experiencing less activity.
On the other hand, property buyers are given increased access to capital these days. This development allows them to grow their portfolios through acquisition of existing storage facility.
There are also zoning-driven buyers who are in the business of seeking locations for other businesses. Reports have it that they have become more aggressive compared to the traditional buyers.
All these facts only show that the self storage industry remains strong in the face of issues.
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