While self-storage owners are enjoying a surge in occupancies, revenues and most importantly, property values, the U.S. economy continues to work through some messy politics while still registering modest growth. In the face of tax increases and the sequester budget cuts, the U.S. GDP is still on pace to grow around 2% in the first quarter of 2013(1). Self-storage continues to benefit from the mobility of the U.S. population with more than 36 million people relocating in 2012, an increase of 2.5% from the record low of 35.1 million in 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Most importantly, consumer spending remains resilient, aided by increased retail sales in late 2012 and recent trends in big ticket items such as home sales, vehicle sales and self-storage same-store revenue reported by the self-storage REITS. This indicates that the U.S. consumer is comfortable enough to continue spending money on new possessions, and ultimately, storing them.
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