Self Storage Rent Rates Take a Dip Across the Nation, with Aurora, IL, and New Orleans, LA, Seeing the Biggest Drops

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  • Self storage rent rates decreased by 4.5% year-over-year in August 2023, while staying the same month-over-month
  • About 83% of the 150 largest cities registered rent drops in August 2023
  • Aurora, IL, New Orleans, LA, and Fort Lauderdale, FL, registered the most substantial rent declines
  • Newark, NJ, Worcester, MA, and Boston, MA, saw the highest rent growth rate
  • Orlando, FL, comes in first for expected completions, while Texas boasts the highest construction volume set for delivery across some of its largest cities

After a stellar performance in 2022, self storage rates continue to go down nationally on a year-over-year basis. This decline can be attributed to a combination of factors, including a strong existing inventory and reduced moving activity resulting from a less active housing market. In August, the rates for a 10’x10’ non-climate-controlled storage unit averaged $127, marking a 4.5% decrease compared to the previous year. On a monthly basis, the average street rate remained the same as the previous month.

Largest street rate plunges seen in Aurora, IL, New Orleans, LA, and Fort Lauderdale, FL

Most cities continue to see a drop in self storage rates when it comes to the yearly evolution, while month-over-month rents tend to stay the same.

Aurora, IL, climbs to the first spot for rent reductions in August with a 16.4% annual drop in street rates. Aurora has experienced a tightening housing market as home prices resumed growth, leading to fewer move-ins and a reduced demand for self storage in the process. A storage unit in Aurora a now rents for $92/month.

New Orleans, LA, has experienced a substantial 13.7% year-over-year decline, ranking second for the largest rent drops. The monthly rate for storage units in New Orleans remains at $126, unchanged from July. Similar to Aurora, there were fewer home sales in July and the available homes on the market were also reduced, potentially leading to weaker demand for self storage. The limited local inventory, currently at 5.6 square feet per capita — has piqued investors’ interest in expanding their holdings. An estimated 89K square feet of self-storage is anticipated to be added by the end of 2023.

Florida also has two cities among the markets with the fastest-decreasing rates. A Fort Lauderdale storage unit now rents for $142/month, down 13.4% year-over-year. A little farther south, Hialeah, FL, is seeing a 11.9% drop year-over-year in average rates, with Hialeah storage calling for $155/month on average.

Out West, Henderson, NV, has recently joined the list of locations where street rates have recorded double-digit decreases. Nevertheless, given Henderson’s status as a sought-after relocation destination — with its population growing by 9% over the past five years — local developers maintain their confidence in the sector. Plans are in place to add approximately 81K square feet of self-storage space in 2023 to the existing 3.1 million square feet of local inventory. Renting a storage unit in Henderson, NV, costs $123/month.

Sharp rent hikes in mid-sized cities: Newark, NJ, tops the list of biggest street rate increases

Mid-size cities that have more modest self storage provisions related to population have seen the highest rent hikes.

Newark, NJ, comes in first for the highest street rate jump at 13.8% y-o-y . A storage unit in Newark, NJ, currently rents for $157/month. Thanks to its lower cost of living and proximity to New York City, the New Jersey city is a great opportunity for people looking to be close to the action for less. In fact, population increased by 8% over the past five years, which, coupled with a limited inventory and virtually no supply in the pipeline, is turning the self storage market red hot as well.

Also in the Northeast, Worcester, MA, experienced the second-largest annual surge in street rates, a 9.4% rise. The cost of renting a storage unit in Worcester stands at $140 as of August 2023. The city saw its population swell by 10% over the past five years, which contributed to elevated demand for self storage. Additionally, with only 2.9 square feet per capita, the city is severely undersupplied. To better respond to local demand, developers are planning to add 136K square feet of self storage space for the entirety of 2023.

Boston, MA, holds on to a spot on the podium for rent increases in August too. Month-over-month, that growth has moderated, as Boston rent rates are slightly lower compared to July. Rates are expected to stay the course, as even with a low inventory related to population (0.7 sq.ft./capita), the city is not expected to see new construction for 2023.

The capital of Arkansas, Little Rock, is a newcomer to the top 10 of cities for street rate growth, registering a 4.7% year-over-year hike. In addition to generic move-in activity, which supports rent growth, about 8% of local employees work remotely and these individuals often turn to self storage to optimize their home space for the creation of a home office — adding extra pressure on the market. In 2023, about 34K square feet are scheduled to be added to the local inventory to help address the local need for self storage.

On the West Coast, California’s Bakersfield broke into the top 10 cities experiencing significant increases in self storage rates in August, with a year-over-year rent jump of 2.3%. This notable increase can be attributed to the substantial influx of new residents to Bakersfield, resulting in a remarkable 7% population growth. As a natural consequence, the demand for self storage solutions has soared. To meet this surging demand, Bakersfield is expected to see the addition of 100K square feet of self storage space in 2023, aimed at easing the existing pressure on self storage availability.

Sunbelt migration hot spots are at the forefront of 2023 self storage construction

Orlando, FL, is emerging as the most active self storage market for projected development in 2023 with over 700K square feet set for delivery. The city owes the intense development activity, in part, to Orlando becoming a relocation hot spot — population went up by an impressive 12% over the last five years. Thanks to its large per capita inventory, Orlando is well equipped to cater to the needs of both long-time residents and newcomers. The interest in self storage is also apparent from the online activity related to the term, as Orlando comes up 10th with approximately 8,000 searches each month.

Top 100 Cities for 2023 Expected Construction

#City2023 Projected New Supply (sq. ft.)2023 New Supply as % of InventoryCurrent Sq. Ft. per Capita
1Orlando, FL713,8959%6.7
2Las Vegas, NV638,2375%7.1
3Tucson, AZ575,5979%8.1
4Philadelphia, PA502,3379%2.8
5San Antonio, TX471,9943%8.8
6Boise City, ID425,35911%10.9
7Phoenix, AZ347,0273%5.1
8Tallahassee, FL323,95213%10.2
9San Diego, CA308,9135%3.9
10Fort Worth, TX306,6594%6.1
11Houston, TX305,5641%6.7
12Memphis, TN289,2125%7.5
13Garland, TX285,12814%3.7
14Columbus, OH275,4275%4.3
15Lubbock, TX272,2137%15.7
16Amarillo, TX249,50511%12.5
17Elk Grove, CA242,55122%3.9
18Lexington, KY236,85911%7.3
19Reno, NV220,5264%14.3
20Los Angeles, CA215,0373%1.8
21North Las Vegas, NV210,75210%4.3
22Louisville, KY203,5613%7.5
23Mobile, AL191,4768%9.5
24Knoxville, TN190,9525%9.5
25Jacksonville, FL184,8482%9.3
26Fayetteville, NC183,8387%11.4
27Minneapolis, MN173,83210%2.1
28Santa Rosa, CA173,3419%7.6
29Gilbert, AZ171,7338%3.9
30Plano, TX170,1105%5.5
31Greensboro, NC167,5675%10.1
32Colorado Springs, CO165,6533%10.6
33Des Moines, IA162,51812%4.6
34Scottsdale, AZ154,1746%7.8
35Indianapolis, IN146,8872%6.7
36Miami, FL146,6322%3.6
37Newport News, VA144,38310%5.9
38Winston-Salem, NC138,7677%6.6
39Albuquerque, NM138,3003%7.7
40Worcester, MA136,06222%2.9
41Tulsa, OK134,4253%8.7
42Chicago, IL123,2931%3.4
43Corpus Christi, TX118,4954%10.7
44Baltimore, MD118,4813%3.5
45Virginia Beach, VA116,0442%10.4
46Santa Clarita, CA112,88314%3.9
47Brooklyn, NY110,7832%No data
48Huntsville, AL110,6755%9.3
49El Paso, TX106,5382%6.0
50Anaheim, CA102,2987%1.4
51Bakersfield, CA101,1252%8.7
52Overland Park, KS100,1259%2.8
53Richmond, VA92,9812%5.6
54Oakland, CA92,3686%2.4
55Staten Island, NY91,9846%No data
56Chattanooga, TN90,1554%7.9
57Queens, NY89,7512%No data
58Stockton, CA89,2304%6.0
59Aurora, IL89,03913%2.5
60New Orleans, LA89,0393%5.6
61Fort Wayne, IN88,3504%6.6
62Omaha, NE85,5412%6.7
63Columbus, GA81,9903%10.8
64Toledo, OH81,8825%4.3
65Oklahoma City, OK81,4671%8.3
66Raleigh, NC81,0002%7.2
67Henderson, NV80,5503%5.9
68San Bernardino, CA79,8755%3.2
69Durham, NC77,5243%8.9
70Tampa, FL74,1501%6.8
71Vancouver, WA73,7392%8.0
72Salt Lake City, UT73,0083%3.2
73Aurora, CO71,6782%4.2
74Cary, NC00%#REF!
75Akron, OH67,7615%4.1
76Madison, WI64,6475%4.3
77San Jose, CA59,6091%3.8
78Pittsburgh, PA58,7382%3.5
79Grand Prairie, TX55,5876%3.2
80Lincoln, NE54,1403%6.5
81Portland, OR53,3001%4.3
82Grand Rapids, MI48,5873%3.7
83McKinney, TX46,1582%7.5
84Spokane, WA42,3532%7.0
85Cleveland, OH38,7562%2.3
86Little Rock, AR34,2001%10.4
87Austin, TX33,7950%7.7
88Anchorage, AK19,0001%6.2
89Eugene, OR13,0541%7.1
90Fremont, CA5,2250%3.5
91Denver, CO5,1730%3.4
92Boston, MA00%0.7
93Newark, NJ00%0.8
94Detroit, MI00%1.1
95Long Beach, CA00%2.1
96Fresno, CA00%7.0
97Manhattan, NY00%No data
98Saint Louis, MO00%4.8
99Arlington, VA00%1.2
100Rochester, NY00%3.2

RentCafe analysis of Yardi Matrix data
* Projected construction (%) for 2023 as a percentage of the total existing inventory at the end of 2022

Tallahassee is the second Florida city to experience intense construction activity, despite having a higher self storage provision per capita. As it happens, due to its warmer climate the city is also a popular relocation destination, where people naturally turn to self storage. Consequently, there’s continuous demand for the service, which fuels an active construction pipeline.

Also a migration magnet, the state of Texas has been at the forefront of real estate construction, and self storage is no exception. Besides having one of the largest inventories in the country, San Antonio is also set to add an impressive 472K square feet of self storage space. Likewise, Fort Worth and Houston also plan to see their inventories swell by over 300K square feet of space by the end of the year. Even as these Texas cities already surpass the national average in storage provision, their continued construction efforts underscore the state’s robust demand for self storage.

Moving to the Southwest, Arizona is also seeing intense new construction activity in 2023, with two cities representing the state in the top 10. While Tucson enjoys a well-supplied inventory of 8.1 square feet per capita, it registers a more active development pipeline than Phoenix, which only has 5.1 square feet of space per resident, below the standard benchmark for the industry (7 sq.ft./capita). Tucson is scheduled to add about 576K square feet of self storage, whereas in Phoenix, the sector is estimated to build 347K square feet of space.

Methodology

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

The report considers self storage rents and development forecast as of August 2023. Our analysis includes the 150 most populous cities that register a minimum of 10 self storage facilities.

Data on remote workers came from the U.S. Census (2021 data set).

Data on self storage street rates and construction estimates for 2023 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.

Fair use and redistribution

We encourage you and freely grant you permission to reuse, host or repost the research, graphics and images presented in this article. When doing so, we ask that you credit our research by linking to RentCafe Self Storage or this page, so that your readers can learn more about this project, the research behind it and its methodology.

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Mirela is a real estate writer and lifestyle editor for Yardi. With an academic background in English and translation, Mirela now covers a range of topics including real estate trends, lifestyle and economy. Her previous experience in proofreading academic articles has inspired Mirela to choose a writing career path. In her free time, Mirela enjoys reading, but also hiking and creating art. You can contact Mirela via email.

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