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Why Self-Storage is a National and International Success Story
One of the big success stories of the last two years has been the growth of the self-storage industry, both in this country and overseas. Across the world as a whole, the sector is predicted to grow by almost 50% in the next five years.
Hamiltons Removals, who have two personal storage sites in the heart of East Anglia, examine some of the key reasons for this trend, which was first reported by global market researchers ReportLinker.
The Increasing Cost of Rent
This particularly applies in larger towns and city centres where the demand for housing is still high. London is a prime example of this (as are many Asian cities), because there has been a significant population increase in the past few years.
As a result of the increasing cost, some renters may have to opt for somewhere smaller than they would ideally like, which means they may have possessions that they can’t fit into their new home.
Another effect of the increasing cost of rent is that people move more frequently (particularly the younger generation). Often in an attempt to find somewhere more affordable. As a result, this sometimes means a smaller home and less room for possessions.
Downsizing
Some younger tenants and homeowners are opting for a minimalist approach, and doing this as a lifestyle choice. This is allied with the increasing trend for urbanisation. In large cities like London (as in many Asian countries) smaller properties with very little storage space are increasingly becoming the norm.
And, of course, the older generation are continuing to downsize as they switch from larger family homes to smaller ones in retirement.
Personal Reasons
Just because there is an uncertain situation in the world at the moment with Covid and the conflict in Ukraine, it doesn’t stop the demand for storage space. Some of the reasons why people use self-storage are as old as time itself, such as death and divorce. Splitting up households, or making them smaller, also inevitably means house moves and upheaval, and the chance that items will need to be put into storage.
Financial Reasons – and Covid Effects
Businesses are dispensing with large offices because of people working from home, and so either downsizing or getting rid of offices completely. As a result, they need somewhere secure for stock or office equipment. Office rentals can be expensive, so self-storage is a often a better financial proposition.
The domestic market has also increased because of the switch to working from home. For many people creating an office space at home meant other items had to go. The same applied to students returning home and learning remotely rather than at school or university.
The Bounceback
Now that the world economy is coming out of Covid-19 restrictions, there is an improved economic outlook for the USA, Asia and Europe. This has prompted an optimistic forecast for the self-storage sector for the years ahead, particularly in the USA.
As people get more confident economically, they will acquire more possessions – and they won’t be able to find room for them in their homes, so will need to put some older items into storage.
Personal Storage in East Anglia with Hamiltons Removals
Hamiltons have two Safe N Stored sites at Harleston and Aldeby, which should meet all of your self-storage needs.
The Harleston site, which offers self-storage rooms of different sizes, is currently open Monday to Friday from 09:15 am – 17:15 pm (call our sales team if you want to visit outside these hours). The premises are protected around the clock by CCTV cameras and alarms which are linked to Norfolk Police.
The Aldeby site has self-storage containers from 5’ to 20’ in size. This site also has the capacity to store larger items such as caravans, motorbikes and trailers. The containers are also protected by CCTV and have both secure key fob entry and high-security padlocks. If you would like to know more, call us on 01379 855203 or click here.
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