Self Storage Street Rates Continue Their Decline In Most Major Cities

• National self storage street rates dropped by 3.5% year-over-year in June 2024, with an average unit renting for $141
• 85% of the country’s 150 largest cities are seeing street rate decreases
• Aurora, IL, tops the list of cities with price drops, with the average unit 13% less expensive than a year ago
• Detroit, MI, on the other hand, is experiencing the highest year-over-year price increase, by 8%
• The most active cities on the construction front include Philadelphia, PA, Fort Worth and Houston in Texas, and Los Angeles, CA

Self storage street rates continue to drop nationally, with June 2024 marking the twenty-first consecutive month of declining prices. The average cost for renting a storage unit in the United States is now $136, a 3.5% decrease year-over-year. The rate per square foot is $1.12, reflecting an even steeper 5.1% drop from last year. Factors such as the cooling housing market, reduced moving activity and oversupply in major markets, particularly in the South, contribute to this trend.

In 2024, over 54 million square feet of new self storage space is forecasted nationwide, consistent with 2023’s supply. The expected new supply in the country’s 150 largest cities, on the other hand, stands at 12.7 million square feet, 15% less than last year’s deliveries. As urban areas are generally well supplied, this shift in focus from big urban centers to smaller markets could represent a positive direction for the industry.

Midwestern city registers the biggest price drop nationwide

Aurora, Illinois, saw an almost 13% year-over-year price decrease in self storage street rates this June, with the rate for a storage unit in the area now hovering around $102. Although the local self storage inventory per capita is a modest 2.5 square feet, Aurora is experiencing a dwindling population — the number of residents dropped by almost 10% over the past five years. Naturally, this also signifies a low level of moving activity to the city, with the self storage street rates closely mirroring the demographic changes.

Sunbelt cities Fayetteville, NC, and Huntsville, AL, are taking second and third place respectively for self storage street rate decreases nationally. Both cities are benefitting from high self storage inventories per capita, which explains why self storage costs are getting more affordable here by the month.

Renting a self storage unit in Fayetteville hovers around $102 at the moment, amounting to a 12.7% decrease in rates year-over-year. The local self storage inventory stands at a generous 11.7 square feet per capita, well above the national benchmark of seven square feet. New construction is also relatively active in Fayetteville: 123,000 square feet of new space are expected to be delivered this year. The population in Fayetteville is on a downward trend as well, declining by almost 1% over the past five years, piling on the market conditions that contribute to self storage price drops.

Huntsville sees a self storage average street rate at $97, about 11.7% less than a year ago. Although the population is growing rapidly here, by a significant 13% over the past five years, the local sector registered a massive 200,000-square-foot supply of new inventory in 2023, which continues to impact local prices.

Other cities that saw significant price drops this June include Port St. Lucie, FL, Gilbert, AZ, and Greensboro, NC.

Detroit leads cities with biggest price increases

Just 23 of the country’s 150 largest cities registered self storage street rate increases in June 2024, usually due to factors such as an expanding population, low existing inventories or robust economic growth acting as demand drivers for the self storage sector.

Detroit’s relatively recent investments in its downtown and midtown areas have attracted new businesses, spurred real estate development and revitalized communities — and one of the consequences is heightened demand for self storage. However, for now, the city registers a very low self storage inventory per capita, at just 1.2 square feet, which led to an almost 8% increase in self storage rates year-over-year. Renting a self storage unit in Detroit now stands at around $195 per month. No new supply is forecasted to be delivered in the city this year, so prices are unlikely to see major drops anytime soon.

Sioux Falls, SD, ranks second for self storage street rate increases, by 5.4% year-over-year, bringing the cost of a self storage unit here to $109 per month. Although Sioux Falls enjoys a self storage inventory much in line with the national benchmark, at 7.7 square feet per capita, the city’s impressive population growth of 13.5% over the past five years is putting pressure on the self storage sector. On top of that, Sioux Falls is not planning to add new space this year after having delivered 116,000 square feet of storage space in 2023.

Oceanside, CA, experiences the third-highest self storage price increases nationally. Renting a unit in Oceanside currently amounts to $187 per month, representing a 4.1% year-over-year increase. With a local inventory of only 3.1 square feet of space per capita and no new developments planned for the current year, the price increases come as no surprise in Oceanside. Other cities with increases in self storage rates include Anchorage, AK, Bakersfield, CA, and Akron, OH.

Undersupplied Philadelphia leads for 2024 forecasted new supply

The self storage sector in the U.S. continues to expand, driven by various economic factors, including increasing urbanization, shrinking living spaces and the rise in remote work, which have heightened the demand for storage units. Slightly more than half of the country’s 150 largest cities have forecasted new self storage space to be delivered this year.

Top Cities for 2024 Expected Construction

Philadelphia, PA, ranks first, with over 721K square feet of new space to be delivered in 2024, representing a 57% increase compared to the self storage square footage that was built in 2023. Currently, Philly has a per capita inventory of just 3.2 square feet of space, less than half the national benchmark of seven square feet, so new space is a welcome addition to the local market.

Fort Worth, TX, lands in the second spot among the country’s 150 largest cities for self storage deliveries forecasted for 2024. The city is on course to add 623K square feet of new space this year, representing a huge 151% uptick in deliveries compared to 2023. The city’s population has grown nearly 11% over the past five years, making the new supply crucial for meeting local demand. Other Texas cities are also among the top 10 with the most supply forecasted to be delivered this year, including Houston, San Antonio and McKinney.

Los Angeles, CA, is ranking fourth, with over 429K square feet of self storage space that will likely be delivered this year, a 47% jump in forecasted supply compared to the new inventory built in 2023. Los Angeles remains one of the country’s most undersupplied markets, with just 1.8 square feet of space per capita. Renting a self storage unit in Los Angeles hovers around $246 per month, the fourth most expensive among the country’s large urban hot spots.

Methodology

This analysis was done by RentCafe Self Storage, an online platform that provides apartment and storage unit listings nationwide.

This report considers self storage rents and construction estimates for 2024 based on May 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).

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.