Public Storage: Self-Storage Demand Resilient

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• Lately, we’ve received several questions from CRE executives about the self-storage category. The last few years have driven increased demand in self-storage as more people worked from home, many consumers migrated to other parts of the country, and businesses reassessed their real estate needs. Not surprising, public storage gained many new customers the past few years.    
• This week we’ve decided to look more closely at Public Storage, which has over 2,000 locations across the US, and customers range from individuals needing a closet-sized space for nostalgic items to garage-sized units for storing extra vehicles and more. 2022 was generally a positive year for Public Storage, with visits  from Jan-Oct 2022 up YoY.  November showed a decline and December was flat, but come Jan 2023, YoY foot traffic is up again.

• Compared to pre-pandemic trends, the difference is even more pronounced. The Yo3Y variance is as high as 20% in some months, notably July and August, perhaps when people put things in storage for the summer or conversely, access their stored items.

• We examined some of the most heavily-trafficked Public Storage locations in the U.S. (below).

• At the top is Public Storage in Universal City, TX. This area is right outside San Antonio, and quite close to Randolph Air Force Base.

• We wondered - who is storing items? Military families who might be deployed?  Local college students?  Large households who have run out of space?  Empty nesters?  Using Spatial.ai’s PersonaLive, we are able to see that in a closer 30% trade area, 55% are Blue Collar Suburbs and 31% a Young Urban Singles.  Farther afield, using a 70% trade area, we also start to see Upper Suburban Diverse Families, Wealthy Suburban Families, and Suburban Boomers.

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