When so much memorabilia is retained and no more space is available at home, the next best option is renting a 10 foot by 15 foot storage unit for just $100 a month. This has become one of the hottest businesses in the United State, with about 50,000 storage facilities scattered throughout the United States, according to a recent report from Forbes.com.
This has become one of the most solid investments in real estate available nowadays for several reasons. The report said that the industry is recession-resistant. The market is open to the widest clientele, from the wealthiest to the most ordinary. This is often done through the purchase of shares of real estate investment trusts.
This dependability of this market is further buttressed in a report done by the National Association of REITs in 2008. In the same Forbes report, NAREIT said that the total return on investment for self-storage businesses is a solid 5 percent including dividends.
This is because the need for space is constant and consistent, be it a good year or a lean year. While this is not a glamorous business, it provides solid returns for investments made even during recession years. Even if there is a dip during a recession, there is always a strong comeback the following year.
The market is booming, according to a report from StorageBeat.com. The revenues in 2014 was estimated at $29.8 billion, in 2015 at $31.6 billion and forecasted for 2016 at $32.7 billion. There are about 54,009 storage facilities in operation as of 2015 offering a total of 2.63 billion square feet, as of 2014 figures.
The same report further said that in 2015, about 9.5 percent of total US households rented a self-storage unit. The most rented space is a 10 by 10 footer at 23.1 percent market share, followed by the 10 by 20 footer at 20.6 percent market share.
