Americans Running Out of Space?
03/12/06 09:59 PM Filed in: Human
Interests
So let's get
this straight—houses got bigger, average family
sizes got smaller, and yet we still need to tack on
almost two billion square feet of extra space to
store our stuff?
According to
the Self Storage Association, a trade group charged
with monitoring such things, the country now
possesses about 1.9 billion square feet of personal
storage space outside of the home. All this space is
contained in nearly 40,000 facilities owned and
operated by more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, including
a handful of publicly traded giants like Public
Storage, Storage USA, and Shurgard.
According to a recent survey, the owners of 1 out of every 11 homes also own a self-storage space. This represents an increase of 75 percent since 1995. Most operators of self-storage facilities report 90 percent occupancy, with average stints among renters of 15 months. Last year alone saw a 24 percent spike in the number of self-storage units on the market.
But, amazingly, as the amount of storage space required by homeowners has grown, so has the average size of the American house. In fact, the National Association of Homebuilders reports that the average American house grew from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,400 square feet in 2004.
According to a recent survey, the owners of 1 out of every 11 homes also own a self-storage space. This represents an increase of 75 percent since 1995. Most operators of self-storage facilities report 90 percent occupancy, with average stints among renters of 15 months. Last year alone saw a 24 percent spike in the number of self-storage units on the market.
But, amazingly, as the amount of storage space required by homeowners has grown, so has the average size of the American house. In fact, the National Association of Homebuilders reports that the average American house grew from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,400 square feet in 2004.
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