Demand for domestic and commercial self storage has continued to creep ahead over the summer months, according to Safestore.

The group pointed to recovering occupancy and rental rates as households and businesses looked for short-term solutions to stashing their goods.

The self-storage provider saw occupancy increase by 110,000 sq ft over the nine months to 31 July, compared with a loss of 29,000 sq ft for the same period the previous year.

Average rents increased 5.3% to £25 year-on-year as the company let out 2.8m sq ft of space.

Steve Williams, chief executive, said demand had been hit by the recession although economic uncertainty had also helped underpin demand among some customers.

Financial Times