There is no shortage of people paying for extra space, with Australia’s $1.1 billion self-storage industry expected to grow 3.3 per cent by 2017, according to a recent IBISWorld report.
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IBISWorld senior industry analyst Tristan Williams said the industry has benefited from several factors.
This includes the fact that more Australians are moving to major cities and into smaller apartments or townhouses.
The report found there was also an increasing demand from people relocating short-term for work or study.
Williams said demand from business, especially smaller online retailers who needed somewhere to store stock, had also risen in the past five years.
While major players such as Kennards, Storage King and National Storage dominate about a third of Australia’s storage industry, there are hundreds of smaller players, who are also servicing regional centres such as Bendigo.
“All our storage sites are fully and there’s currently a waiting list,” said Ray White Bendigo’s Maddy Theobald, who manages the leases for the real estate agency’s three storage shed sites. “They are very popular and this has only increased since the beginning of the year.”
Theobald said the popularity of the sheds is due to greater exposure of the storage solution during that time and agrees that some fill sheds with belongings they may never use again, together with items that would otherwise take up precious room on a property, such as cars, caravans and furniture.
According to Theobald, the average user spends about $149 a month renting space, which typically pays for a 6m x 2.8m space at the White Hills site, where there are 138 sheds. The other sites are at Strathdale (101 storage sheds) and Heathcote (41 sheds).
“People use them when they’re moving house, or renting and need extra storage space,” said Theobald, noting that people of all ages use the facility, together with local businesses.
Other storage solutions include newer entrants such as online marketplace Spacer, which matches spare space in people’s homes or garages with people who need to store their stuff.
Spacer co-founder Mike Rosenbaum said Spacer’s customers are typically looking to store household goods, business stock or recreational vehicles such as motorhomes or caravans. However it’s storage space for household items that is the most sought after. “What we’re finding is (extra storage) allows people to live the lifestyle they want to live – typically close to the city or closer to amenities,” Rosenbaum said.
Spacer has 2000 spaces listed and Rosenbaum expects the business to grow about 500 to 600 per cent in the next year.
