Business and Finance

Why is self storage investment growing in popularity? All over the planet, people are looking for new investments to make their money work for them. In years past, it was easier to make lucrative investments in the stock market, but with financial markets being relatively unstable nowadays, many people are becoming reluctant to put their money into investments which may or may not generate a profitable ROI.

If you are interested in an investment, but you are looking for alternatives to the traditional markets then take a look at a self storage investment to make your money work for you.

Nowadays most cities, if not all of them require self storage options available. Self storage facilities have grown in popularity during the last 20 years. Nowadays the demand for self storage is quickly increasing especially in the United Kingdom where demand is high and supply has still to catch up with that of the more established markets like the USA.

When compared to more mature markets, the levels of self storage market penetration in the United Kingdom is small at just below 0.5 Sq/Ft per person. The US has in excess of 7.4 Sq/Ft per person and Australasia has 1.1 Sq/Ft per person.

Also even with much higher levels of market penetration, the US market is still growing at 10-15% per year (based on net lettable space). These statists clearly indicate that the United Kingdom’s market has a lot more room to grow.

One of the attractive things about investing in self storage, apart from the high yields and low entry levels, is the fact that there is very little that owners are required to do once the initial investment has been made as the self storage facilities are generally operated by a specialist management company which require very few employees, also the cost of maintenance costs are very low.

Whether you are buying a whole facility, an individual StorePod, or you plan to build your own self store facility, you should be able to make a good ROI if you choose the right location in a highly populated area with good transport links, or maybe a location with high demand like near an airport or business centre for example, and if you can locate a place with none or little self storage facilities already available then your investment should be successful.

One self storage investment opportunity in the UK is being marketed by Experience International providing a guaranteed yield of 10.27% per year. Investors buy ‘individual storage units’ known as ‘StorePods’ and enter into an agreement to sub-let the units to a well-established management company who in turn sub-let the units under license, to end users.

If you are looking for alternative investments with low entry levels and good returns then consider storage investment. Storage units are needed almost everywhere, and they can be very profitable. There is the initial cash outlay as with most investment ventures, but once you have put your money into such a business, you can just sit back and watch your money come back to you.