The demand for self-storage is regaining strength in the consumer market, according to Charles Ray Wilson, president of Self-Data Services Inc. (SSDS) and a renowned self-storage valuation expert. This week, Wilson voiced an optimistic outlook for the industry based on an analysis of rental activity of thousands of self-storage units nationwide.  
 
“SSDS measures rental demand by tracking and analyzing monthly trends in move-ins and move-outs. In March, total rental activity increased nearly 10 percent over February 2009 and was only down 3.5 percent compared to March of 2008,” Wilson said. “Although still negative, the seasonally adjusted net number of move-ins over move-outs is steadily improving, and should turn positively as we head into the business months of the year. Hopefully, this signals the bottom of the decline in physical occupancy.”
 
Wilson is an internationally recognized authority on self-storage investment analysis. In 1992, he founded SSDS, a research firm that maintains a database of operating statistics on several thousands of self-storage facilities nationwide, tracking trends in the top 50 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas on a quarterly basis.

Related Articles:

Problems and Opportunities Play Major Role in Self-Storage ...[By Ray Wilson]

Charles R. Wilson & Associates Joins Integra Realty Resources

Five Steps to the Best Self-Storage Facility Appraisal : [The Good ...[By Ray Wilson]

The State of Self-Storage: Industry Report 2009