COVID-19 Impact on Self Storage Rents Eases
In a sign that the sector may have seen the worst of the fallout from the pandemic, the downward trend of street-rate performance is starting to slow.
July 21, 2020 | Evelyn Jozsa | Commercial Property Executive
Although the coronavirus outbreak continued to put pressure on the self storage industry, rents did not fall as drastically in June compared to previous months. On a year-over-year basis, street rates declined 4.3 percent for the average 10×10 non-climate-controlled and 6.7 percent for climate-controlled units of similar size. Over the past 12 months, street rate performance was negative in all top markets tracked by Yardi Matrix, whereas month-over-month, only 19 percent of the markets saw negative street rate performance.
Despite being one of the worst-performing markets in the recent months, Pittsburgh was the only top market with growth in street rates year-over-year in June, with rates increasing 1.5 percent for the standard 10×10 climate-controlled units. Similar-sized non-climate-controlled units also experienced the smallest decline in the metro, down only 0.9 percent.
Historically oversupplied Charleston also saw positive rent performance. On a month-over-month basis, street rates grew 1.2 percent for the average 10×10 non-climate-controlled units. Despite having a completed inventory of 11.4 net rentable square feet per capita, almost double the national average, the metro’s new-supply pipeline grew by a considerable 60 basis points in June, potentially hindering the further improvement of street rate performance.
