Phoenix is a Top Market for Self-Storage Facilities Article originally posted on HERE on May 31, 2023 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.