Self Storage Rates Continue to Slow Down While the Sunbelt Leads the Construction Boom

The national average street rate for self storage held steady at $132 in November, offering a welcome break for operators during the off-moving season’s typical slump. Increased demand following Halloween, which usually intensifies competition for consumers, has helped stabilize rents and paused the usual month-to-month declines.

However, street rates kept sliding year-over-year, dipping 3.5% in November compared to the same time last year. Across the 150 biggest cities, 73% saw prices drop, while 27% experienced modest to small increases.

Construction meanwhile remains strong, with nearly 60 million square feet of new space projected for 2024, a 7% increase compared to 2023.

Rates keep falling in Port St. Lucie, Florida, hitting a 11.8% year-over-year decrease in self storage street rates

Port St. Lucie, FL, continues to lead as the city with the steepest year-over-year decline in self storage rates this November, with prices dropping 11.8% to an average of $122 per month. However, reflecting the broader national trend, rates appear to be stabilizing, showing a modest 0.4% increase compared to the previous month.

Despite its limited self storage inventory and strong demand potential, Boston, MA, has experienced significant rent drops, likely due to the seasonal slowdown and reduced move-ins. Homebuying activity has been heavily affected by concerns over rising interest rates, which have weighed on the market for more than two years and continue to hinder recovery. Street rates for storage units in Boston now average $193, marking a 9.1% decline year-over-year.

Rent rates also fell in Memphis, TN, where the average self storage rent was $95 per month in November 2024—the lowest rate in this top 10. This represents a 7.7% year-over-year decrease—one that is easy to understand, given Memphis’ population decrease and above-average inventory that continued to expand in the previous year.

Next is Fayetteville, NC, which boasts one of the largest self storage inventories in the U.S. Combined with having the roomiest apartments among the 150 major cities—roughly 990 square feet – this keeps the market renter-friendly and less competitive for consumers. In November 2024, the average cost to rent a storage unit in Fayetteville was $112, marking a 7.4% year-over-year decline.

Chattanooga, TN, is another major city whose high inventory keeps its rates in check. With 8.1 square feet of self storage per capita, the city’s rents kept stabilizing at around $94 in November 2024, which signifies a 6.8% drop from November 2023. Moreover, Chattanooga’s average rate is the second lowest in the top 10, after Memphis, TN.

California dominates the top 10 in self storage rent growth, with Oceanside once again in the lead

Among the top 10 cities for street rate growth, 6 are in California. Leading the list is Oceanside, CA, with a 6.4% year-over-year increase. Adding to the challenge, Oceanside has no plans for new self storage construction in 2024, even though its 3.1 square feet of self storage per capita is less than half the national average.

Second place goes to Jersey City, NJ, where rents rose by 5.7% year-over-year to reach $197 in November. This growth is mainly driven by the city's limited inventory of just 1.3 square feet per capita and an 8% population increase over the past five years. Yonkers, NY, is the only other East Coast city to make the top 10, ranking at #6.

Huntington Beach, CA, ranks third for year-over-year rent hikes, with an average street rate of $210 in November 2024 – a 4.2% increase from the previous year. Next is Irvine, CA, in fourth place, where rents climbed 4.1%. Irvine also saw an 18% population surge over the past five years — the highest among the top 10 cities for rate growth. While closer to the national average in terms of supply, the self storage industry also saw rent hikes in St. Petersburg, FL. Even with a slight drop from the previous month, the average rent rate of $154 represents a 3.9% year-over-year increase from November 2023. The only other Southern city in this top 10 is El Paso, TX (#7)—here, too, inventory is edging up towards the national average.

Three West Coast cities round out the list: Fontana, CA, San Francisco, CA, and Bakersfield, CA—the last of which has the lowest rent rate and highest square footage per capita among the top 10. Contrast that with San Francisco, which had the 5th highest rent rate among the 150 major cities to bank on its undersupplied inventory.

Texas maintains its position as a frontrunner in self storage construction

Texas represents almost half the top 10 major cities with most new constructions set to be completed in 2024. San Antonio, TX, has over 748,000 square feet of self storage to be delivered—that’s almost double its output in 2023, making it this year’s largest new inventory out of the 150 major cities.

Top Cities for 2024 Expected Construction

Los Angeles, CA, one of the most under-supplied major cities in the nation, comes in second place for new supply. The city is set to add over 681,000 square feet of self storage to its inventory, which is more than double the new supply that came online in 2023.

In third place is Houston, TX, which delivered over 635,000 square feet of new self storage space in 2023 and is on track to add another 638,000 in 2024. Currently, the city offers 6.8 square feet of self storage per capita—slightly below the national average of 7.3 square feet. Further down the top 10 are neighboring cities like Garland, TX, and Fort Worth, TX. Fort Worth, in particular, has experienced a 10% population growth over the past five years.

Philadelphia, PA, is another major city where self storage supply struggles to keep up with demand. Over 406,000 square feet of new storage space is slated for completion by the end of 2024. Following Philadelphia is Vancouver, WA, which boasts one of the largest population increases among U.S. cities. Other key cities leading in self storage construction include Elk Grove, CA, Phoenix, AZ, and Jacksonville, FL.

Explore how the 150 largest cities stack up in self storage rent changes and stock availability below:

Methodology

This analysis was conducted by RentCafe Self Storage, an online platform offering nationwide apartment and storage unit listings.

Data on self storage street rates, deliveries and 2024 forecasted construction activity came from our sister division Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool for brokers, sponsors, banks and equity sources underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial and self storage sectors.

This report considers self storage rents and construction estimates for 2024 based on June 2024 data.

The report includes the largest 150 cities by population with an active self storage inventory of at least 10 facilities.

The self storage street rate is calculated as the weighted averages of the street rates for all storage unit sizes, non-climate-controlled and climate-controlled units included.

Data on population changes came from the U.S. Census (2017-2022 dataset).

Please note that data and coverage areas may evolve, and actual figures are subject to change.

Fair use and distribution

This study is intended as a resource for the general public on topics of common interest and should not be considered investment advice. The data presented is accurate to the best of our knowledge, based on thorough and good-faith research, but it may change due to external factors.

We permit the distribution of this content, provided that proper attribution is given to "RentCafe Self Storage" with a link back to the research study.