Moving, housing affordability and economic shifts continue to fuel sustained demand within the self-storage market. Internet searches for self-storage have nearly doubled since 2020, reaching a record 25 million annual searches in 2024, according to a StorageCafe report.
The national self-storage inventory now exceeds two billion square feet, with 58.5 million square feet of rental space delivered last year, according to the report.
StorageCafe said there are six primary factors driving demand including dislocation, divorce, death, downsizing, distribution and decluttering – which it refers to as the Six Ds. The firm used these factors to analyze which metro areas have the strongest mix of demand factors and where it is most concentrated to support strong market performance.
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