WMS Blog

Warehouse and Mobile Storage Boom

Despite recessions and demographic shifts, few building types have boomed like self-storage lockers. In fact, they’ve proven to be one of the surest bets in real estate over the last half century, while malls, starter homes, and even luxury commercial space in big cities, once safe and steady investments, have struggled. Behind the combination locks and roll-up doors lies a $38 billion industry.

One in 11 Americans pays an average of $91.14 per month to use self-storage, finding a place for the material overflow of the American dream. According to SpareFoot, a company that tracks the self-storage industry, the United States boasts more than 50,000 facilities and roughly 2.311 billion square feet of rentable space. In other words, the volume of self-storage units in the country could fill the Hoover Dam with old clothing, skis, and keepsakes more than 26 times. (Patrick Sisson The curbed)

How does Maryland contribute to this?

In Maryland, residents most often move to the state for a job, but slightly more are leaving to take a job as well. That’s according to the 42nd annual “National Movers Study,” The study tracked its customers’ state-to-state migration patterns in 2018. The new hot markets in the southwest, Denver area and Northwest have become attractive areas for people to move from Maryland. In contrast, DC as seen an increasing large amount of millennial influx into DC and the surrounding Maryland area. With some moving into smaller apartments or sharing with room mates the need for storage has become increasingly needed.  Here are the findings for Maryland moves

• Inbound — Total 46.9 percent
  • Retirement: 6.92 percent
  • Health: 3.77 percent
  • Family: 25.79 percent
  • Lifestyle: 6.92 percent
  • Job: 57.23 percent
• Outbound — Total 53.1 percent
  • Retirement: 21.74 percent
  • Health: 5.31 percent
  • Family: 19.32 percent
  • Lifestyle: 11.11 percent
  • Job: 49.76 percent

Moving from Jersey! 

The study found more residents left New Jersey than any other state last year. More than 66 percent of movers in The Garden State headed elsewhere. That was a common thread in the Northeast, the study found, with Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts all in the top 10 outbound states. Several states in the Midwest also appeared near the top of the list.

Moving trends

Self-storage has seen 7.7 percent annual growth since 2012, according to analysts at IBISWorld, and now employs 144,000 nationwide.

The industry’s boom over the last few decades mirrors larger demographic and real estate trends: Americans relocating from the Midwest and Northeast to Sunbelt cities store old gear in self-storage units. Millennials moving into increasingly crowded, high-demand downtowns require extra space. A wave of downsizing baby boomers needs a place to put a lifetime of accumulated memories. Small businesses want room to store excess inventory possibly due to down sizing and less brick and mortar needs.

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