It’s no surprise that the self storage industry is going mainstream. With the recent popularity of self storage TV shows and auctions, self storage is beginning to catch on to others outside the industry. In addition to the mainstream success, storage facilities have become a popular investment opportunity the past few years. Investors are high on self storage REITs as they continue to return solid numbers to Wall Street and trade near 52 week highs.
Storage REITs have outperformed the 11 sector multi-family group in the past several years even though, up until recently, the multi-family investment opportunities have been grabbing all of the headlines. Many cities throughout the country are continuing to see self storage developments go up though at a slower pace than we saw in the early part of the Century.
In Atlanta, several projects are underway in the metro area and the competition is growing fierce. The Penske Moving Report recently named Atlanta the number one moving city in the U.S. for the third year in a row. Recent trends indicate 85% of the U.S. population will live in an urban environment by 2020. To keep up with the demand, Atlanta has recently seen self storage properties go up in West Midtown, Vinings and Old Fourth Ward.
New construction of self storage properties is big news because there were minimal new sites being built during the recession. In the South alone, 46 new facilities went into development. In contrast, the storage industry has been one of the fastest growing segments of the commercial real estate market over the past 30 years. It is considered by Wall Street analysts to be recession proof based on its performance during the Great Recession and the sector has largely outperformed other REIT sectors since 1993.
The recent popularity explosion, urbanization trends and annual returns have made the self storage industry an attractive investment opportunity. Though many cities are seeing an increase in the number of storage facilities being built, Atlanta is on the forefront and leading the way.
SSF Team
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