Institutional interest

After a number of larger portfolio sales in 2016, there has been a good level of transactional activity in 2017 for single assets and smaller portfolios. The last year has seen over £250m of transactions in the UK alone, from new sources of capital from the US, as well as the first institution directly investing in the sector.

The 2017 has seen another landmark reached for the self storage sector following the acquisition of Big Box Self Storage for more than £100 million in October last year by US investor StorageMart. In August 2017, Schroder UK Real Estate Fund’s (SREF) purchase of The Self Storage Company was the first instance of an institutional investor directly entering the sector and taking an active management role. This was shortly followed by South Africa’s Stor-Age’s acquisition of Storage King, and more recently, the acquisition of Alligator Self Storage by Safestore.

10 Largest Self-Storage Brands by Square Meters 2017

10 largest self-storage brands by # of facilities - 2017

Yield Spread 2017