Measuring the growth of national occupancy rates in the U.S. across the self-storage industry is a bit difficult because the industry remains highly fragmented; in the U.S. the top ten operators own only about 10% of all self-storage real estate. However, when measured against other REITS, self-storage outpaces the rate of return by 7%. In 2011, self-storage REITS returned 35.4%, which was the strongest gain of any REIT sector for the second year in a row.
Private self-storage companies of large scale also report an increase in revenues and occupancy. In 2011, StorageMart self storage gained 9.5% in occupancy and another large private self-storage operator with over 100 self-storage properties nationwide reported an increase of 7.4%.
The growing occupancy trend of existing self-storage properties is forecasted to remain on an upward trend. Contributing factors to support this forecast include the barrier to entry for new competition because of hard-to-come-by financing and there is currently no government financing in the self-storage industry.
About Public Storage
Public Storage, a member of the S&P 500 and FT Global 500, is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that primarily acquires, develops, owns and operates self-storage facilities. The Company’s headquarters are located in Glendale, California. At March 31, 2012, the Company had interests in 2,064 self-storage facilities located in 38 states with approximately 131 million net rentable square feet in the United States and 189 storage facilities located in seven Western European nations with approximately ten million net rentable square feet operated under the “Shurgard” brand. The Company also owns a 42% common equity interest in PS Business Parks, Inc. (NYSE:PSB) which owned and operated approximately 27.2 million rentable square feet of commercial space, primarily flex, multi-tenant office and industrial space, at March 31, 2012.
Additional information about Public Storage is available on the Internet. The Company’s web site is https://www.publicstorage.com.
About Extra Space Storage
Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust. As of June 30, 2012, the Company owned and/or operated 882 self-storage properties in 34 states and Washington, D.C. The Company’s properties comprise approximately 585,000 units and approximately 64 million square feet of rentable storage space offering customers conveniently located and secure storage solutions, including business storage. Extra Space Storage is the second-largest owner and/or operator of self-storage properties and is the largest self-storage management company in the United States. For more information, visit https://www.extraspace.com.
About StorageMart
StorageMart is an international self storage company with locations across the United States and Canada. The company is one of the largest privately-owned self storage companies in the industry, offering residential and commercial self storage units for rent, as well as moving and packing supplies at each location. StorageMart Gives is the charitable arms of the company, striving to identify partner organizations in local markets. Additionally, the StorageMart ScholarSmarts program awards $10,000 annually to students pursuing higher education. The company recently partnered with Charity Storage, to serve as drop off locations for charity self storage auctions. Charity Storage is featured on A&E’s Storage Wars; the non-profit organization donates all proceeds of the auction to Kure It and other charities identified by each self storage operator.
For more information about StorageMart, visit https://www.Storage-Mart.com