A new report from Yardi Matrix illustrates how the self storage industry’s performance mirrors employment growth and population gains. Development activity for self storage space is highest in metros such as Portland, Ore., Nashville, Tenn., Seattle and Orlando, Fla., where corporate expansions and relocations, along with college student enrollment and multifamily development, are driving demand. Nationwide, units under construction and in the planning stages account for 9.4% of inventory. The report also documents strong development activity in Boston and New York City, which are historically undersupplied markets. Street rates for self storage units declined slightly nationwide in December a normal seasonal occurrence. In addition, the report notes, “New projects coming online over the past few months continued to weigh on rent growth at the national level, albeit at a much slower pace compared to the previous month.” Yardi Matrix tracks nearly 2,000 self storage development projects in the pipeline and maintains operational profiles on more than 24,600 completed properties. Read the full supply and rent recap for January 2019. Learn more about Yardi self storage...

Second Closet, a start-up based in Toronto, is revolutionizing the storage industry. The company was created on an operating model where users only pay for what they store, not a fixed storage locker price. With prices starting as low as $3/month, customers can have a virtual second closet to store seasonal, personal and unused items. The company picks up items for storage and delivers them back when clients need them again. With the rising population and demand for space in Toronto, people are struggling to find extra storage. These services are transforming the storage industry and addressing prominent issues of the moving pains associated with city living. This year, Second Closet raised $2 million from investment company MIG Group, helping to fully launch the business and make the entire storage process convenient and efficient.We spoke to founder and CEO, Mark Ang for more details. He cofounded the company with his brother, David. Why is now the time for your company to exist? Ang: There’s going to be 10B people in the world by 2050. They aren’t going to be flooding the suburbs, they’ll gravitate to urban areas provided there’s housing available. At the same time, we’re not seeing condominium developments slow down. For cities like Toronto, it’s easy to look at a city like New York to get a glimpse of what life could and likely will be like when things get more densely populated. Since housing prices outpace personal income, condo developers are simply building smaller units so that they still achieve the optimal price per square foot but the nominal price of the unit as a whole is within financial reach. That basically creates a whole lot of shoe boxes in big urban cities. I think we’re position well to help people...