Phoenix is a top market for self-storage facilities
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Phoenix is one of the hottest markets for self-storage in the country, according to a recent report by industry group StorageCafe.
The big picture: Interest in self-storage nearly doubled among America's major cities from 2019 to 2022 based on increases in internet searches.
- Of the 147 cities that StorageCafe examined, Phoenix had the ninth highest number of average monthly searches at 8,290.
- Queries in Arizona more than doubled over that period.
By the numbers: Among Valley cities, online interest in self-storage grew the most in Gilbert (302%), followed by Mesa (263%), Phoenix (236%) and Chandler (230%).
- Tempe was the runaway leader in average monthly searches per 1,000 residents, at 11.6.
- Tucson was second overall in the state with 9.2, while the next highest was Scottsdale's 7.7 average monthly searches.
- Gilbert had the largest total number of average monthly searches in Arizona, ranking 20th nationally, while Mesa was 25th, Phoenix was 30th and Chandler was 31st.
Zoom in: Phoenix could be poised for a massive increase in its total self-storage space.
- Cory Sylvester, founding principal of the self-storage company DXD Capital and industry data company Radius +, tells Axios Phoenix there's 7.1 million square feet of self-storage space in some stage of development.
- That's on top of the 35.8 million square feet already in the Valley.
Reality check: Much of that planned square footage will likely never come to fruition, Sylvester said.
- Maybe half will become reality, and much could happen over a two-year period, he estimated, adding it's "incredibly important not to imply that supply is going to increase by 20%."
- "But there's certainly still a lot of activity of people trying to get things done," he said.
- StorageCafe has a much more modest projection of 289,000 square feet of rentable storage space coming online in Arizona this year, following last year's addition of 452,000 square feet.
Between the lines: Mobility drives interest in self-storage, Sylvester says, so the more people moving in, out or within a metro area, the more they'll need it.
- Sylvester says the industry caught a "tailwind" because it was "in kind of this seventh inning of an oversupply cycle" heading into the pandemic, and then people began increasing the supply of self-storage space to meet demand.
- He believes people elsewhere in the country accelerated their moves to Phoenix during the pandemic, which absorbed much of the existing supply.