COVER STORY
Attracting Younger Renters
What Do Millennials Want In A Facility? By Anne Mari DeCoster
K
nowing who is renting and what they want is critical to your suc- cess as a self-storage operator.
Today, millennials rent more self-storage units than any other generation. Born between 1981 and 1996, currently about 28 to 43 years old, millennials comprise 38 percent of renters, according to the SSA’s 2023 Self Storage Demand Study. A short 10 years ago, self-storage
professionals were wondering if mil- lennials would ever rent storage. They seemed to be a generation of vagabonds, who were not getting married or buying homes the way their baby boomer parents did at similar ages. It appears that millennials are finally
becoming their parents. They have steady employment while also starting their own businesses, are making more money, amassing wealth, buying homes, and having babies, like
SECOND QUARTER 2024
previous generations, even if they took a little longer. Of course, today’s higher interest
rates and sharp appreciation of home prices put a damper on home pur- chases by millennials and all genera- tions, which is creating pent-up home- buying demand. When interest rates ease, home purchases are likely to rebound, especially among first-time homebuyers in the millennial generation. Jeff Adler, vice president at Yardi
Matrix, started pointing out over five years ago that millennials are a “posi- tive force” for self-storage demand. See Chart 1 on page 9.
What Data Tells Us Millennials are a diverse group, and their preferences can’t be generalized as easily as older generations. On one hand, their No. 1 concern when rent- ing space is price (as it is for all gen- erations). On the other, millennials are
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