As we close out the summer, the self-storage industry continues to exceed expectations with record high occupancy fueled by short-term drivers such as continued work from home requirements, explosive home remolding, record high usership, and the typical summer demand drivers. This has pushed rental rates up across the across the country. In July, Yardi reported that the standard non-climate 10×10 street rates rose by more than 10% compared to July 2020 and street rates for climate-controlled units grew by more than 12%.
The self-storage REITs’ same store operating performance in the second quarter 2021 was remarkably strong with an average revenue increase of more than 13% and same store NOI grew by more than 20%. The increasingly high demand for self-storage and rising rental rates has put the outlook for self-storage in a very positive light. Year to date the self-storage REITs have posted a total return of more than 35%, making it the best performing sector across the entire REIT universe.
