09 May 2023
Florida has been making a name for itself in the past couple of years as a Self Storage hot spot, with plenty of storage units in Florida popping up. According to a study from John Burns Research & Consulting based on the US Census data, the state of Florida has seen a net international and Domestic Migration into the state of 444K YoY from July 2021- July 2022 (not including deaths and births). The Radius+ team took a look to see how this has affected the Self Storage market in the Miami metropolitan area.
In 2020 the total supply of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL CBSA increased by 5.3%
In 2021 it increased by 3% But in 2022 total supply increased by 1.9% and so far into 2023 the total supply has increased by 6% in just one quarter. The slowdown in development in 2021 and 2022 seemed to be reversing in the start of 2023.
While the average price per square foot for self storage in Miami in Q1 of 2022 was $2.22 which dropped by 14% to $1.91 in Q1 2023. This seems to be the norm in primary markets as rates stabilize from the all time highs during COVID-19.
The high average price per square foot in 2022 definitely signaled high demand during that time period. Short term rentals may be exiting facilities now, in turn lowering occupancy leading operators to slash rates to make new move-ins more attractive. The large increase in population in the state of Florida combined with news of large companies like Blackstone moving their offices to Miami is a good indication that demand for self storage in Miami could be on the rise. Developers certainly seem to think so; once the current development pipeline in the Miami CBSA completes, the total supply is expected to increase by over 17.5%.