UK SELF STORAGE INDUSTRY REPORT 2023

FUTURE PROSPECTS Operators remain very positive about the future growth of the industry. From within the sample group, they plan on opening or acquiring 113 new stores. This is even more ambitious than in 2021, when they predicted 82 stores in total for 2023, while the prediction for 2024 has remained the same. There were fewer existing stores traded in the UK in 2022 than in 2021, and so far in 2023 there have also been limited trades. The price paid by purchasers for stores has decreased, as has been seen in the property market generally, as the cost of debt increases. It could be that vendors are potentially waiting for an easing of the inflationary pressures before selling. However, there remains significant interest in the market from both institutional investors and existing operators. With a limited supply of self storage businesses on the market, demand will be high for those that do come up for sale, which in itself could drive values back up. Particularly if the industry continues to perform better than many other property based assets.

Self storage businesses continue to offer associated services to their customers, with office space and trade counters being the most common. These services are seen as complimentary to self storage customers, particularly commercial customers. This makes self storage a more attractive solution for businesses and allows them to conduct more of their business from the self storage store, which often results in them using the service for longer. Most of these services would also come at an additional cost, providing further revenue for the self storage business.

SELF STORAGE

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

OTHER SERVICES PROVIDED

50

40

30

20

10

NUMBER OF STORES EXPECTED TO BE DEVELOPED

5 %

28 %

28 %

19 %

18 %

0

ACHIVE STORAGE

OFFICE SPACE

BULK STORAGE

MINI WAREHOUSE/ WORKSPACE

TRADE COUNTERS

66 DEVELOP 47 ACQUIRED

2023 51 DEVELOP 30 ACQUIRED

2024 60 DEVELOP 28 ACQUIRED

%

2025

Further illustrating the expansion of the industry, this year more operators opened three or more new stores than ever before. There has clearly been a significant push for expansion by operators since the pandemic, despite the increasing costs of construction. It will be interesting to see if this abates as the current inflationary conditions put pressure on operators and potentially reduce the current escalation of profit margins.

When directly asked if the current inflationary conditions would impact their future development, only 22% indicated they were reducing their investment in development.

NUMBER OF STORES OPENED PER OPERATOR

IS THE INCREASING COST OF DEBT AND INFLATION IMPACTING THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR BUSINESS?

100

11 %

90

8 %

84 % 13 %

14 %

19 %

16 %

17 %

80

21 %

14 %

23 %

20 %

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

64 %

66 %

86 %

89 %

76 %

88 %

72 %

75 %

75 %

74 %

91 %

81 %

22 %

78 %

0

2010 2011

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

YES - WE HAVE REDUCED OUR PLANS TO INVEST IN NEW SITES

NO - WE ARE CONTINUING AS PLANNED

NONE

ONE

TWO THREE

OVER THREE

%

%

P. 54

P. 55