Despite slowing rent growth, self storage fundamentals are expected to remain strong during the spring rental season.
Although self storage rents have moderated over the winter, the sector is heading into the spring season with healthy fundamentals. Street-rate rents rose 7.6 percent for the average 10×10 non-climate-controlled and 7.4 percent for the climate-controlled units of similar size, year-over-year as of February.
Overall, nine of the top 31 metros tracked by Yardi Matrix registered at least a 10 percent rent growth for non-climate-controlled units, and 25 markets recorded increases at or above 5 percent. Climate-controlled units saw a similar performance, with nine markets registering double-digit rent growth and 21 markets experiencing at least a 5 percent improvement. San Jose was the only top market with a negative growth rate, dropping 0.6 percent for climate-controlled units.
Thanks to continued migration, rent growth remained strong across major metros in the Southeast and Southwest. However, as demand topped out in the second half of 2021, seasonality has returned more quickly to markets in the Northeast, resulting in slower rent growth in recent months. Nonetheless, fundamentals are expected to stay steady in this region as well.