UK Self Storage Occupancy and Price per Sq Ft: Ten Years of Data

As at 17 October 2026, Big Yellow’s self storage occupancy, its occupied space divided by its maximum lettable area (our calculation), was 78.0% at 31 March 2017, a peak of 85.2% at 31 March 2021 and 74.2% at 31 March 2026. Its closing price per square foot rose from £26.03 to £36.28. Safestore’s UK average storage rate was £24.42 for the year to 31 October 2017 and £30.68 for 2025.

The SSA UK annual industry report printed 83.3% for 2022 and 80.0% for the same year in its next edition. Both are all-store occupancy from its operator survey. Both are the survey’s all-store occupancy. Across sources the measures are not interchangeable: each source counts its own stores on its own divisor and year end. This guide is general information about published figures, not financial or investment advice, and not a forecast. It shows each source’s years separately.

Each run in the first paragraph crosses a change in the stores counted: Big Yellow’s FY22 column adds 24 Armadillo stores and Safestore’s FY18 count adds 12 Alligator stores. This guide marks the breaks it found.

What are the headline moves in occupancy and price, source by source?

Each tile in the band below is one source’s own figure on its own basis and year end. Big Yellow’s are closing figures at 31 March, Safestore’s are UK figures for the year to 31 October, and the two from the SSA UK annual industry report are for the calendar year 2025. This guide calls none of them a UK average.

Big Yellow and Safestore describe their own estates, and the SSA describes a survey of operators. No two sources end their year on the same date, so a figure from one source is not comparable with a figure from another.

Where the text says FY26, it means the source’s own financial year: the year to 31 March 2026 for Big Yellow, the year to 31 October for Safestore and the year to 31 July for Lok’nStore. For the latest-year headline numbers, see our UK self storage industry statistics page.

What has UK self storage occupancy done over ten years, by source?

Occupancy in the latest year is lower than in 2021 for Big Yellow, for Safestore’s UK stores (on maximum lettable area) and for the SSA UK survey (all stores), each on its own basis.

Four sources print occupancy, each on its own basis: Big Yellow by area at 31 March, Safestore on maximum lettable area and then current lettable area, the SSA UK survey on lettable area (current, where the edition says so), and Lok’nStore in forms that change over the years.

Big Yellow: occupancy at 31 March

Big Yellow’s ten-year summary prints stores open, store maximum lettable area (MLA) and square feet occupied for each year to 31 March. On 17 October 2026 we found no occupancy-percentage row in that summary, on its investor page or on page 63 of its results for the year to 31 March 2026.

Big Yellow defines closing occupancy as the space occupied by customers divided by MLA at the balance sheet date, so we divide its two rows (our calculation). For 31 March 2026 that is 4,985 thousand sq ft occupied over 6,721 thousand of MLA, or 74.2%. For 31 March 2021 it is 4,201 over 4,930, or 85.2%, and for 31 March 2017 it is 3,551 over 4,551, or 78.0%.

In nine of the ten years our figure equals the percentage that Big Yellow’s own report prints for the year. The exception is FY18. The FY18 report printed 81.0% on total capacity of 4,606,000 sq ft. The FY19 report gave the FY18 capacity as 4,631,000 sq ft and the occupancy as 80.5%, with 3,730,000 sq ft occupied in both.

The FY22 column is the first to include the 24 Armadillo stores, whose remaining 80% Big Yellow acquired on 1 July 2021. Stores open went from 78 to 105 and MLA from 4,930 to 6,098 thousand sq ft. The table shows occupied space up 906 thousand sq ft that year.

Big Yellow’s own table of all 105 stores, which counts the Armadillo stores in the earlier year as well, shows a fall of 2 thousand (5,107 against 5,109), so about 908 thousand sq ft of the step is the consolidation (our calculation).

The FY23 column includes a 53,000 sq ft store in Aberdeen, acquired with 39,000 sq ft occupied.

Safestore UK: occupancy to 31 October

Safestore’s results announcements give UK closing occupancy of MLA for each year to 31 October from FY17 to FY24, with FY16 as the prior-year column of the FY17 announcement. The FY25 announcement leads with current lettable area (CLA), which leaves out space not yet fitted out and space that is operationally unavailable. It also prints the MLA figure for the UK in a table by geography, so FY25 is shown on both bases.

On 17 October 2026 we found no UK-only occupancy percentage and no UK average storage rate in pounds in the visible text of Safestore’s Five Year Record, Financial Highlights and Key Performance Indicators pages, so this series comes from its results announcements.

The table gives the same UK stores on the same day on two divisors, so the gap is the divisor and not a market move. The FY17 count of 108 UK stores leaves out the 12 Alligator stores that Safestore acquired on 1 November 2017, the day after its year end. The FY18 count is 119 stores, and MLA rose from 4.54 million to 5.12 million sq ft.

The SSA UK annual industry report: all-store occupancy

The SSA’s all-store figure comes from a survey of operators, and its 2026 edition gives it on current lettable area. The 2026 edition’s own text gives 73.9% for 2016, 83.3% for 2021 and 74.5% for 2025. That is 0.6 points above 2016 and 8.8 points below 2021 (our calculation). Earlier editions printed other values for some of those years, so this guide reads a run of years from one edition at a time.

Lok’nStore: what each report printed

The reports and presentations archive page lists Lok’nStore’s annual reports from 2004 to 2023. Its reports for the years to 31 July 2018 to 2023 print occupancy and price in forms that change over the years. The table gives what each printed.

The FY21 report also prints “Occupied space up 35.3% (2020: 5.9%)”, the same 5.9% that the FY20 report gives for unit occupancy. On 17 October 2026 we found that the FY23 report prints no closing occupancy level for all of Lok’nStore’s stores. Its 80.6% leaves out the 108,890 sq ft of new space added in the year.

On 17 October 2026 the archive page lists no annual report after the one for the year to 31 July 2023. On 17 October 2026 it also lists no interim report or investor presentation dated after 2023.

What has price per square foot done over ten years, by source?

Big Yellow’s closing price per square foot rose from £26.03 at 31 March 2017 to £36.28 at 31 March 2026, up 39.4% (our calculation: 36.28 divided by 26.03), across the addition of 24 regional stores in FY22.

Big Yellow: closing price per square foot

Big Yellow’s own label for the measure is “closing net rent per sq ft”. It is annual storage revenue from in-place customers divided by occupied space at the balance sheet date, and the ten-year summary prints it for each 31 March. This guide uses the closing figure. Big Yellow’s average for the year is a second measure: £35.98 for FY26 against £36.28 closing.

The nine-year move crosses a break. In FY22 the closing price rose 4% for all stores, from £28.71 to £29.92, and 11% for like-for-like stores, from £28.84 to £31.91 (our calculation from the levels: 4.2% and 10.6%). The like-for-like set leaves out the Armadillo stores and recent openings.

Big Yellow’s footnote says the all-store rise is lower because of the regional Armadillo stores. At 31 March 2026 the price was £24.88 for those 24 stores and £38.80 for the 77 stores Big Yellow calls same stores.

Safestore UK: average storage rate

Safestore defines its average storage rate as revenue from self-storage divided by the average square feet occupied in the period. The table gives the UK rate for each year to 31 October, the change Safestore reported and its like-for-like change.

Safestore attributes the FY17 fall to immature new stores, and the FY18 fall “due to the dilutive impact of acquired Alligator stores”. Its like-for-like set rose 0.9% and 0.5% in those years. That set changes each year, so we do not chain the changes into one line. By our calculation Safestore’s average storage rate is up 25.6% from £24.42 for FY17 to £30.68 for FY25, and up 29.7% from £23.66 for FY18, the first year with the Alligator stores.

The SSA UK annual industry report: price per square foot

Inside its 2023 edition, the SSA’s UK price per square foot is £22.68 for 2016 and £27.19 for 2022, up 19.9% (our calculation). The next edition printed £25.97 for 2022, as the section below on the survey’s own figures shows. On 17 October 2026 we found no statement in the captured text of the 2026 edition that its £27.40 for 2025 is measured on occupied space, or on any other named area.

VAT was introduced on self storage from 1 October 2012, according to Big Yellow’s report for the year to 31 March 2021. The SSA states that its price data excludes VAT in its 2014, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026 editions, and on 17 October 2026 we found no such statement in its 2015 to 2020 editions or its 2024 edition.

On 17 October 2026 the definitions we read for Big Yellow’s and Safestore’s measures state no VAT basis, and we did not check the rest of their reports.

Year-end figures hide movement inside the year. Our seasonality guide charts when one listed operator’s space was let and handed back, month by month. For how an operator sets its own street rates, see our pricing strategy guide; this page covers published figures only.

Why do Big Yellow, Safestore and the industry survey give different numbers?

They divide by different areas, count different stores and end their years on different dates, so each figure answers a slightly different question. The table sets out the definitions as each source gives them.

Occupancy over MLA counts space that is not yet fitted out in the divisor, and occupancy over CLA leaves it out. The SSA’s 2018 edition says new stores added to its survey “increased the difference between the MLA and CLA”, which lowers the MLA figure and raises the CLA figure.

In the 2020 edition’s tables, CLA less MLA is 6.1 points for 2013 (68.7% against 62.6%) and 11.8 points for 2019 (76.2% against 64.4%). Across 2011 to 2015 it runs from 5.0 to 6.1 points, and across 2017 to 2019 from 9.4 to 11.8 (our calculation). For 2016 it is 2.4 points there, against 4.3 in the 2017 edition (75.8% against 71.5%).

The SSA’s mature-store measure changes by edition too, from stores open for more than six years in the 2014 to 2017 editions to stores with no new space or opening in the last four years in the 2025 and 2026 editions.

The SSA’s figures are survey results, not a count of every store. The editions that state a sample give 57 to 80 companies and 403 to 760 stores. Their coverage wording runs from over 40% of sites in 2014 to “around a quarter” of stores in 2022 to 2024.

From the 2020 edition the SSA says its data set is slightly weighted to larger operators, because fewer small independent operators complete the survey. On 17 October 2026 we found no number of operator companies or stores for the 2026 edition’s operator survey.

Each company’s estate has its own shape. Big Yellow says 75% of its stores, by revenue, are in London and its commuter towns. Safestore had 62 of its 108 UK stores in London and the South East for FY17 and 78 of 139 for FY25, and says 63% of its UK revenue came from them in its FY23 announcement.

Revenue per available square foot, which Safestore calls “REVPAF”, divides revenue by available square feet, not occupied ones, so it is not a price per occupied square foot. Safestore printed its FY24 UK figure for it as £28.00 in the FY24 announcement and £28.85 in the FY25 announcement.

When did a series change its basis?

Big Yellow changed what its series counts or divides by in FY18, FY22 and FY23, Safestore in FY18 and FY25, the SSA its price label in six editions and Lok’nStore its measure in FY21, FY22 and FY23. The list dates each change by the period it first appears in.

• Big Yellow, FY18. The FY18 report printed 81.0% on capacity of 4,606,000 sq ft. The FY19 report gave the FY18 capacity as 4,631,000 sq ft and the occupancy as 80.5%, on the same 3,730,000 sq ft occupied.
• Big Yellow, FY22. The ten-year table starts to include the 24 Armadillo stores acquired on 1 July 2021. Stores open go from 78 to 105, and MLA from 4,930 to 6,098 thousand sq ft.
• Big Yellow, FY23. A 53,000 sq ft store in Aberdeen was acquired with 39,000 sq ft occupied. Big Yellow’s table footnote says occupancy growth in FY17, FY22 and FY23 includes acquired stores.
• Safestore, 29 July 2016 and 1 November 2017. It acquired Space Maker, then 12 Alligator stores the day after its FY17 year end. It says the two acquisitions added 24 stores to its UK portfolio, and the FY17 count of 108 UK stores leaves the Alligator stores out.
• Safestore, FY25. The announcement leads with occupancy of CLA instead of MLA. For its UK stores that is 79.6% against 77.2% for FY24, and 79.9% against 75.6% for FY25.
• SSA price label, 2014 to 2020. The label varies between editions. It was “average net billed room rate” in 2014 and 2015, “net rental rate pa” in 2017 and “average net room rate” from 2020. The 2016, 2018 and 2019 editions use other wording.
• SSA price label, 2023 to 2026. The 2023 edition’s label is “average net rental returns”. The 2024 chart is titled “return per square foot by region”, the 2025 chart “return per square foot on occupied space ex VAT” and the 2026 tile “average revenue per sq ft”.
• SSA combined headline, 2015 to 2017. The 2017 edition’s headline price of £22.68 combines container-only sites at £12.77 with other sites at £22.97. The 2015 and 2016 editions split their headlines the same way, and on 17 October 2026 we found no such split on the price pages of the 2018, 2019 or 2020 editions.
• SSA 2024 edition, weighted basis. Beside its occupancy and return figures, the 2024 edition notes that this data was “previously calculated on a weighted basis and is now calculated on total occupied space”, and that there “may be some discrepancies with data in previous reports”. On 17 October 2026 it was the only note of this kind that we found in the 2018 to 2026 editions.
• Lok’nStore, FY18 to FY23. Its reports give growth rates, then a level, then a share of stores, then stores over three years old, and name the price differently in FY22 and FY23 (see the table above).

Did the industry survey restate its own figures?

Later editions of the SSA UK annual industry report printed different values for the same year in several cases, and on 17 October 2026 the only note we found that says why is in its 2024 edition. That note says the data is now calculated on total occupied space, where it was previously calculated on a weighted basis, and adds that “there may be some discrepancies with data in previous reports”.

The table gives seven cases, each as printed, with our calculation of the difference. For 2022 the 2023 edition said occupancy stayed stable at 83.3%, and the 2024 edition’s chart gave 80.0%. The 2024 edition’s own text says occupancy dropped 2.5 percentage points in 2023 and 5.8 over two years. Those are the differences between 80.0% for 2022, 77.5% for 2023 and 83.3% for 2021, so that edition uses the lower value for 2022 (our calculation).

A different base also changes the size of a move. The 2018 edition puts its 76.1% for 2017 at 2.2 points above a 2016 base of 73.9%. On the 75.8% that the 2017 edition printed for 2016, the same step would be 0.3 points (our calculation).

The 2025 edition’s headline, up 6% to £29.13, implies a 2023 base of about £27.48 (our calculation: 29.13 divided by 1.06), against the £26.23 that the 2024 edition printed for 2023, so the headline percentage and the printed levels do not agree.

The 2026 edition prints the 2025 change in revenue per square foot three ways. The headline tile and one paragraph give a fall of 5.1%, from £28.87 to £27.40, another paragraph gives a fall of 5.4%, and the regional section gives a fall of 7.4% to £26.97 for what it calls the UK average. Our calculation gives 5.1% for £28.87 to £27.40, and 7.4% for £29.13 to £26.97. The edition gives mature-store occupancy for 2025 as 79.6%, 79.1% and 80%.

On 17 October 2026 we found no wording in the 2018 to 2023 and 2025 editions, or in the 2026 edition’s captured text, saying that earlier figures were restated, recalculated or revised. A registration form on another page also offers the 2026 report. We did not complete it, so whether the document it releases states the basis of the £27.40 is unconfirmed.

Which years can you compare?

In this guide a run of years is a run only inside one source, one perimeter of stores and one definition. This guide joins no two sources into one line or one average, and it offers no cross-source series.

Big Yellow has two runs by perimeter, before and after the 24 Armadillo stores. Safestore’s occupancy on MLA to FY24 also has two runs, before and after the 12 Alligator stores join its count in FY18. For the SSA, this guide reads one edition at a time: its longest run in a single edition is 2013 to 2024 in the 2025 edition, in whole numbers. The table names what breaks each run.

For Safestore’s average storage rate, the announcements name a break in FY17 and FY18. As at 17 October 2026 we had not searched the text of the other years for similar wording, so the FY19 to FY25 run in the table is a run with no break named in the rows we read, not a run with no break.

What do these numbers not tell a new operator?

They are the figures of named operators’ own estates and of a survey sample, averaged over many stores of many ages. None is the figure for a single store, a new store or a single town.

Big Yellow’s 12 “lease-up” stores, which we read as stores still filling, were 49.2% occupied at 31 March 2026 and its 77 same stores 78.2%, against 74.2% for all 113 stores. A group figure averages stores at very different levels of occupancy.

Our guide to how long a store takes to fill sets out what operators say about stores still filling. Our self storage KPIs guide sets out what each KPI divides by, with the published figure where there is one. Our guide to who uses self storage in the UK sets out what the surveys say about households, businesses and length of stay.

Our guide to whether self storage is profitable in the UK prints some of the same published figures. So does our guide to self storage investment in the UK.

What does this guide not cover?

• Years before the ones read. We read Big Yellow from FY17, Safestore from FY16, Lok’nStore from FY18 and the SSA UK editions from 2014. The SSA’s landing page lists earlier reports back to 2004 to 2005, which we did not read.
• Safestore FY16. We read the FY16 values as the prior-year column of the FY17 announcement, not the FY16 announcement itself.
• Lok’nStore after the year to 31 July 2023. On 17 October 2026 the archive page lists no later annual report, and we did not search any other list of company announcements.
• Wales and Northern Ireland. The SSA groups Wales with the West Midlands as “West Midlands & Wales” in its regional charts from the 2015 edition. On 17 October 2026 we found no occupancy or price row for Northern Ireland in its 2015 to 2026 editions. This guide prints no regional values. We did not check whether Big Yellow or Safestore split their figures by nation.
• What happens next. This guide makes no forecast.
• Revenue per available square foot. It is a different measure from a price per occupied square foot, and this guide does not show it as one.
• Second copies of an edition. Some editions exist as more than one PDF file. For the 2022 to 2025 editions we read the file on the SSA UK site only, and we did not look for second copies of earlier editions.
• The 2026 report document behind a registration form. We read the 2026 edition’s interactive text, its landing page and its press release, and on 17 October 2026 we found no link to a PDF of it on the SSA’s 2026 report page.
• Other sources. We read these four sources only. Other operators’ figures and other surveys are outside this guide.

Sources

All read on 17 October 2026.

• Big Yellow Group, preliminary announcement for the year to 31 March 2026, 18 May 2026, and its investor page with the ten-year summary.
• Big Yellow Group annual reports for the years to 31 March: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
• Safestore Holdings results announcements for the years to 31 October: 2017 (9 January 2018), 2018 (8 January 2019), 2019 (7 January 2020), 2020 (14 January 2021) and 2021 (13 January 2022).
• Safestore Holdings results announcements, continued: 2022 (17 January 2023), 2023 (17 January 2024), 2024 (16 January 2025) and 2025 (15 January 2026).
• Safestore Holdings investor pages: Five Year Record, Key Performance Indicators and Financial Highlights.
• Lok’nStore Group annual reports for the years to 31 July: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
• Lok’nStore Group, reports and presentations archive page.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2014 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2015 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2016 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2017 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2018 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2019 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2020 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2021 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2022 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2023 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2024 edition, linked.
• The SSA UK annual industry report, 2025 edition, linked.
• The Self Storage Association UK’s 2026 interactive report with Cushman & Wakefield, linked.
• The Self Storage Association UK’s 2026 industry report page and press release of 29 April 2026.