YourSpace Storage, Bel Air, Maryland
After a few years of increasing vacancies and softening rents, the saturated self-storage market in central Maryland seems to be showing some signs of improvement.
“The nationals have saturated this area,” said Teresa Rosier, Vice President of Peak Management, LLC. A subsidiary of Hill Management, Peak Management owns YourSpace Storage – a family-owned chain of self-storage facilities in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
Expansion by national chains into central Maryland plus some aggressive pricing strategies fueled revenue declines in the area’s self-storage sector in recent years.
“The vacancy rate trended upward from three percent previously to 9 to 10 percent since 2021. At the same time, rents dropped consistently since 2022,” Rosier said.
The increased cost of living also depressed self-storage rentals, she added. “I think inflation over the last four years made some individuals look harder at how they spend their money and perhaps decide that they didn’t need the things they were storing.”
Analysts suggest that investment in self-storage is returning to levels normally experienced before the 2020-to-2022 development surge. In a market report last fall, Cushman & Wakefield noted that the U.S. self-storage sector saw total transactions of $3.36 billion in the first half of 2024, which was close to the annual, average transaction volume of $5 billion from 2013 to 2020.
And self-storage companies are still expanding in Maryland. In January, Snapbox Self Storage opened a four-story, 776-unit, 79,710-square-foot facility in Owings Mills.
YourSpace Storage, Nottingham, Maryland
In the midst of that saturated but more ‘normalized’ market, Rosier sees some signs of improving performance for the sector.
YourSpace Storage has a total of 9,000 storage units across three states with a current occupancy rate of 92 to 94 percent, she said.
Succeeding in the current market, however, requires extra effort.
YourSpace Storage has developed a multi-faceted program for attracting and retaining clients, Rosier said. That program includes a strong internet presence, monthly specials for renters, a one-year guarantee on rental prices, and facilities that are attractive, comfortable and secure.
“We have put a lot of effort into creating attractive buildings that are nicely landscaped,” Rosier said.
YourSpace Storage locations, she added, also frequently host community events, including Easter egg hunts and vintage car shows.