Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve interviewed a number of builders, developers and steel suppliers to gauge how the self-storage industry has been affected by the volatile steel market. While the news isn’t good—steel prices are up 30 percent so far this year—our industry is fairing better than other markets hit by the increases.
One reason is self-storage is still a solid investment—even in a repressed real estate market. Despite housing woes, high gas and oil prices, and a general downturn in the economy, people still need storage. That’s not likely to change. But what will probably happen, according to our panel of experts, is there will be a slowdown in the development of new construction in some markets.
To read what self-storage experts have to say about the subject, check out Steel Prices Soar, which was published to the ISS website just this morning.
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