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Self Storage Association 

Preamble

The Self Storage Association (SSA) is a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization formed in 1975 under Section 501-c-6 of the Internal Revenue Code. For more than 37 years the Association has served as the official trade organization and voice of the U.S. and international self storage industry.

The SSA is the registered lobbying entity representing the U.S. industry’s more than 49,000 facilities before the U.S. Congress and federal departments and agencies. The association is also quite active in representation of the industry before state legislative and regulatory bodies. The Association has spent more than $2.6 million in the last three years modernizing 18 state lien laws, as well as adding tenant insurance and reasonable late fees, dealing with abandoned records and vehicles and fighting the imposition of sales taxes on self storage rents in a dozen other states.  The respective state lien laws govern the operation of self storage facilities and the customer relationship. Many of these laws were written 25-35 years ago as the industry emerged. Outdated legal language is many laws is cumbersome in the light of state-of-the-art communications – such as the Internet, smart phones, email notifications, etc.  Therefore, the SSA and its state affiliates are working diligently to revise and modernize these lien law statues.

The national SSA is formally affiliated with 32 state and regional associations within the United States and another five international organizations representing another 12,000 self storage facilities situated in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, Latin America, South America and Japan.  We are also working with the self storage industry in China.

The self storage industry in the United States generated more than $22 billion in annual U.S. revenues (2011). The industry has been the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry over the last 35 years and has been considered by Wall Street analysts to be “recession resistant” based on its performance since the economic recession of September, 2008. The industry pays more than $3 billion each year in local and state property taxes.

There are five public corporations operating in the industry: Public Storage, Extra Space Storage, CubeSmart, Sovran Self Storage and U-Haul International. The industry has hundreds of mid-sized companies operating chains of from 3-100 stores; the vast majority of owner-operators (72% of all companies) in the industry own and operate 1-2 facilities.

The SSA is governed by an elected Board of Directors including seats for the President & CEO and the General Counsel. The Board meets at least three times each year and the Executive Committee meets more frequently, as needed. The Association has a staff of 10 professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The annual budget of the Association is in the $5 million range.

The Association has several areas of core competency: Collecting and disseminating industry data, advocacy and lobbying at the federal, state and local levels, conducting conventions, trade shows and educational seminars/webinars, issuing periodic membership communications and publishing a monthly magazine (SSA Globe with a circulation of 15,000+), conducting executive education and employee training programs, developing research, maintaining an internationally utilized web site and maintaining relations with 37 other industry associations, as well as publishing books, manuals and various industry studies, providing legal education and information.

SSA membership comprises nearly 6,000 corporations that own, operate and/or manage some 22,000 self storage facilities in the U.S. and internationally. The Association conducts three national meetings per year – a Spring Convention & trade show, a Fall Convention & trade show and an annual Winter Executive Ski Workshop – please see our SSA Web site for locations and dates.  The SSA Globe magazine is distributed monthly to more than 15,000 industry leaders and a weekly electronic newsletter is disseminated to SSA members. The Self Storage Legal Review is published 6 times each year.

Lastly, a recent survey indicated that 95.4 percent of current self storage owner-operator members would heartily recommend membership in the SSA to their market competitors.

The SSA has several subsidiary organizations:

  • The Self Storage Association Foundation (SSAF) [IRS Code section 501-c-3] oversees the educational programs of the Association and the publication of the monthly SSA Globe magazine.
  • SSA InternationalThe Self Storage Association International (SSAI) is a new subsidiary that maintains membership relations with five (5) international associations representing Asia, Australia, Japan and twelve European countries, Latin America and South America. SSA has members in 29 nations across the globe, providing them with electronic news and information and other specialized services. There are approximately 12,000 self storage facilities outside the United States. Special International memberships are available via info@selfstorage.org.
  • Self Storage Association Enterprises (SSAE) Self Storage Association Enterprises (SSAE) houses the for-profit enterprises of the Association including its Web site (www.selfstorage.org), its advertising revenues and business programs such as the SSA Commercial Accounts Program.
  • Self Storage Association Political Action Committee (SSA-PAC) is a registered political action committee for federal office candidates.

2012 (Mid-year) SELF STORAGE INDUSTRY FACT SHEET  (as of 6/30/2012)

  • The self storage industry has been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the United States commercial real estate industry over the period of the last 35 years
  • There are now approximately 49,940 “primary” self storage facilities in the United States as of year end 2011; another 4,000 are “secondary” facilities (“primary” means that self storage is the “primary” source of business revenue – US Census Bureau)
  • There are approximately 58,500 self storage facilities worldwide as of Q4 – 2011; there are more than 3,000 in Canada and more than 1,000 in Australia.
  • Fewer than 450 new self storage facilities came on line in the U.S. during 2010-2011; the trend in new construction is down significantly the last four years
  • Total self storage rentable space in the US is now 2.3 billion square feet (as of Q4-2011) [approximately 210 million square meters].  That figure represents more than 78 square miles of rentable self storage space, under roof – or an area well more than 3 times the size of Manhattan Island (NY)
  • U.S. self storage facilities pay a total of more than $3.25 billion in property taxes to local government  jurisdictions.
  • The distribution of U.S. self storage facilities (Q4-2011) is as follows:  32% urban, 52% suburban and 16% rural
  • The average revenue per square foot varies from facility to facility; however, here are the year-end data for 2011:  Traditional facility: $8.65 psf; Hybrid facility: $9.85 psf; Big Box facility: $11.52 psf; Conversion facility: $10.89 psf. 
  • Primary U.S. self storage facility gross revenues for 2011 were approximately $22.45 billion [or a national average (mean) of $449,540 per facility or national average (mean) of $9.76 of gross annual revenue per rentable sq. ft. (all types of facilities combined)]
  • One in 10 US households (HH), or 10% (10.8 million of the 113.3 million US HH in 2011) currently rent a self storage unit; that has increased from 1 in 17 US HHs (6%) in 1995 – or an increase of approximately 65 percent in the last 15 years
  • At year-end 1984 there were 6,601 facilities with 289.7 million square feet (26.9 million square meters) of rentable self storage in the U.S.  At year end 2010, there are approximately 46,500 “primary” self storage facilities representing 2.24 billion square feet
  • Nationally, at year-end 2011 all self storage facilities employed approximately 169,000 persons, or an average of 3.4 employees per facility
  • The average (mean) size of a “primary” self storage facility in the US is approximately 46,600 square feet
  • The top-5 self storage companies, including the 4 public companies (Public Storage, Extra Space, Sovran and U-Store-It REITS – Real Estate Investment Trusts) plus U-Haul (a public company/ non-REIT), own and/or operate some 5,100 self storage facilities, or about 9.8% of all primary facilities.  Several public companies are now getting into third-party management of facilities owned by other investors.  Hundreds of facilities are now being managed by the public companies that have moved into this service area.
  • There are another 30,000 (non-Top-5) companies that own and operate the remaining 44,850 self storage facilities (an industry-wide average of 1.5 “primary” facilities per non-Top-5 company)
  • An important subset of that total: there are some 22,000 small business entrepreneurs (75% of all self storage companies) who own and operate just one “primary” self storage facility
  • There is a self storage space inventory of 20 sq.ft. per U.S. household
  • There is 7.3 sq.ft. of self storage space for every man, woman and child in the nation; thus, it is physically possible that every American could stand – all at the same time – under the total canopy of self storage roofing
  • More than 700,000 self storage units nationwide are rented to military personnel (4% of all units); however, in communities adjacent to domestic US military bases military occupancy can be from 20%-95% of all rented units
  • SSA members value military personnel as self storage customers and traditionally extend special incentives and discounts to those with a valid military ID card, such as: 10%-30% discounts off rental rates, free months of rent, gift certificates, free use of moving truck, “one-dollar move-ins,” no rent increases while deployed overseas, waiver of security deposits, administration fees, etc.
  • It took the self storage industry more than 25 years to build its first billion square feet of space; it added the second billion square feet in just 8 years (1998-2005)
  • During the peak development years (2004-2005) 8,694 new self storage facilities (approximately 480 million square feet of space were added)
  • Gross square footage of self storage “per capita” in the US (at the state level) ranges from 1.60 to 18.65 square feet
  • 83.9 percent of all US counties (or 2,634 out of 3,141) have at least one “primary” self storage facility
  • (And here’s a stat that SSA is rightly proud of) – 95.4 percent of current SSA direct members say YES! They would recommend SSA membership to other self storage owner-operators.  (There’s still room for improvement, though.)

SSA Sources:

The above facts are merely a light sampling of industry data available.  Much more detail may be gained by reviewing the above SSA studies. Copies of these studies are available for sale in SSA's www.selfstorage.org (see Online Store- Publications).
© 2013 Self Storage Association