Urbis Pty. Ltd., an Australia-based public-policy evaluation and consulting firm, has published its latest Urbis Storage Index (USI), which tracks self-storage demand, rental rates, occupancy and revenue along the East Coast of Australia and in Auckland, New Zealand. The USI monitors self-storage performance from more than 70 facilities in seven categorized zones. In general, performance has been relatively flat in Australia during the last six months, while storage demand in Auckland has shown steady progress over the last year.

In Australia, average occupancy for the six-month period to June 30 was about 87 percent, an increase of less than 1 percent from the previous period. Occupancy in the major markets of Melbourne and Sydney declined 0.64 percent and 0.13 percent, respectively. The Brisbane market showed marginal growth in occupancy at 1.73 percent, though in the city’s “outer zone” occupancy average is less than the national average at 82.3 percent.

Rental rates in Australia grew 2.1 percent in the 12 months ending June 30. The Australian Consumer Price Index grew 2.2 percent during the same period, according to Urbis.

Urbis predicts consumer demand for self-storage in Australia is likely to grow due to an increase in apartment dwellers. Growth in apartment living between 2011 and 2016 grew 25.5 percent in Brisbane, 18.9 percent in Sydney and 9.4 percent in Melbourne.

In Auckland, self-storage occupancy declined 1.14 percent during the 12-month period to June 30, though rental rates grew by 4.2 percent in the same period. Average occupancy was 90.5 percent during the year, outpacing the Australian markets in the index.

Urbis has tracked the storage industry in Australia and New Zealand since 2008. For more than 30 years, the company has provided market-evaluation, research and strategic-advisory services to several sectors including commercial, education, government, healthcare, industrial, residential, retail, telecommunications and tourism.

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