I regret to announce the Inside Self-Storage Store will no longer be selling industry-performance reports produced by Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). The commercial real estate firm, in particular its Self Storage Industry Group, has been a valued partner of the ISS Store since 2012, providing a stable of annual, monthly, quarterly and customized reports to our customers. These data reports have consistently been among our top sellers and have been coveted by self-storage operators, developers, investors and market analysts looking to obtain a clearer picture of operational metrics and development activity from a local and national perspective.
This blog will serve as our formal ISS announcement, as we felt it was important to let our audience know the circumstances behind the move before rumors begin to circulate. By all accounts, the two companies have had an excellent working relationship. To our disappointment, C&W has indicated it no longer intends to sell the reports. At the company’s request today, we’ve removed all C&W product from the ISS Store website.
What this means going forward to the availability of performance and market data through the ISS Store is uncertain; however, we’ve begun the review process in our intention to move forward with a suitable or enhanced suite of data-driven products. Interest in self-storage market and operational data has increased significantly since the economy stabilized and the industry launched full bore into another development cycle. The current wave of activity and interest is likely at least two to three years from cresting, which makes analytics an important component to any current operator, developer or investor. Several suppliers have expanded the availability of self-storage industry reports in recent months, which has made metric reporting a competitive space. We’re confident we’ll be able to partner with a data-rich vendor or multiple suppliers to assist you in making strategically sound operational and development-related decisions.
That said, whomever we partner with has big shoes to fill. The Self Storage Data Services (SSDS) platform—forged by Charles Ray Wilson in 1992 and partnered with C&W in 2011—has been a mountain of industry intelligence, drawing on more than 20 years of data collected from thousands of private and publicly owned facilities across the nation. SSDS has been the go-to resource for statistics on self-storage supply and demand, rental rates, occupancy levels, concessions and rental income in the 50 largest U.S. markets.
Ray’s legacy in the industry is set, which is why ISS recognized him with a special-achievement award during last year’s Inside Self-Storage World Expo. He helped create a hunger for real-time, industry-performance metrics, and we’re determined to continue to feed the beast.