Self-Storage Sector Puts Up Solid Numbers

CHICAGO—The self-storage industry has been consistently robust for years, with rising levels of occupancy and gains in net revenue, especially by the largest REITs, and in the first quarter this vigorous growth continued, according to a new quarterly report by MJ Partners Real Estate Services, a Chicago-based firm.

MJ Partners’ report focuses on the four largest REITs in the self-storage world. Just a few years ago these operators usually had occupancy rates of about 85%, but Public Storage, which has 2,258 sites in the US and nearly 200 in Europe, just saw its occupancy rate hit 93.4%, up from 92.6% last year. Extra Space Storage, with 1,106 sites the second largest, had a rate of 92.5%, compared to 89.8% last year. And revenue among the big four grew from 5.7% to 8.3% when compared to the first quarter of 2014.