Halloween Brings Treats, Not Tricks, For The Self Storage Industry: Post-Holiday Demand On The Rise
Key Takeaways
- Despite a typically slower market in the off-season, search interest and demand for storage units rise significantly after Halloween.
- Some cities, like Honolulu, HI, and California hotspots, such as Long Beach, San Francisco, and Bakersfield, experience increases in both search interest and rental rates.
Halloween is spreading more than just spooky cheer each year, with cash registers ringing across both retail and hospitality. While the pandemic may have paused the frenzy, the past two years have seen consumer engagement spike, with retailers jumping on the trend head-on. Home Depot, for instance, began promoting spooky items as early as April this year. Halloween spending in 2024 is expected to reach $11.6 billion—a slight dip from last year’s record $12.2 billion but still one of the highest totals in nearly 20 years.
In a similar spirit, as Halloween leaves behind a trail of spooky costumes and decorations, the self storage industry finds itself in a sweet spot right after the year’s creepiest celebration. 2024 is on track to continue the trend creeping in each year post-Halloween, with more consumers turning to self storage. This seasonal boost wakes the industry from its post-summer slumber and nudges street rates up along the way.
Zooming in on the post-October lifecycle of Halloween décor, we’ve found that it often ends up in a storage unit—close to home but tucked away until next year. Our latest research shows a significant increase in online searches for self storage in November compared to October, along with rising rental rates in more cities than usual. Interestingly, the hotspots leading this trend include popular Halloween hubs like New Orleans, LA; several California cities; and Honolulu, HI, where the season brings an increased demand for extra space. Below, you can find a map of the 10 major cities where the self storage market is most primed for post-Halloween growth.
Halloween spells good news for self storage as consumer interest inches up in November
Industry experts will tell you that the self storage market is at its hottest during the moving season, typically peaking in summer and then declining until the following spring.
But as skeletons, zombies, and ghosts rise on American lawns each autumn, so does the need for storage once their time in the sun is over. While this seasonal demand doesn’t rival the peak moving season, it still provides a tangible boost to the industry: the decline in street rates slows, and some cities even experience rent increases. One reason for the more competitive landscape in November is a rise in customer demand, reflected in online search interest. Our research shows that storage-related search volumes spiked in November, surpassing both the national average and October’s numbers. In November 2023, monthly searches reached 69, compared to 59 for the yearly average and 66 in the previous month.
Additionally, in 62% of the 100 most populated cities, self storage-related searches increased in November compared to October 2023.
Honolulu, HI, along with Long Beach and San Francisco, CA, lead in Halloween-driven self storage demand
Our analysis spotlights the top 10 cities where Halloween-driven demand has given a boost to the self storage market. These cities have shown impressive growth in search interest and have managed to keep rental rates steadier than most, making them standout players in the sector during the typical off-season.
1. Honolulu, HI
When you think of Halloween, Hawaii might not be the first place that comes to mind. But make no mistake—Honolulu knows how to get spooky when October rolls around. From pumpkin patches and costume contests to haunted houses and more, the city’s Halloween spirit is vibrant and unique.
Entire neighborhoods throw epic monster bashes, with highlights like the Hallowbaloo block party, the bustling Waikiki scene, and pop-up bars like Nightmare serving up mysterious potions and seasonal brews. It’s no wonder, then, that Honolulu saw a 43% spike in searches right after Halloween—the biggest jump in the nation. Rental rates are also showing resilience here, climbing 1.2% from October to November.
2. Long Beach, CA
Long Beach is another city where residents truly live up to the Halloween spirit. Neighborhoods like Belmont Heights and Bixby are particularly popular for trick-or-treating, as many families go all out with decorations. Consequently, this Halloween hotspot of a city is also primed for a rise in the demand of self storage. Here, too, there was a marked uptick in online searches for self storage — no less than 24%! Rents are also performing better than in most other cities, with an increase of 1.3% from October to November.
3. San Francisco, CA
San Francisco has already made a name for itself when it comes to Halloween. The Regency Ballroom Bash and the Mission Playground pub crawl are just two of the biggest parties where residents meet up dressed in elaborate costumes. Yet door-to-door trick or treating is just as big, with entire neighborhoods spooked up all October long. Rents are also holding strong, with a 1.3% increase from October to November—outperforming most other cities.
4. Bakersfield, CA
Spooky street fairs, downtown bar crawls, and monster bashes — Bakersfield is a Halloween wonderland if there ever was any. It’s also the third West Coast city where self storage boomed in the first week of November last year. California is just dominating Spooktober rankings in general: last year, it came in second on our list of the best places for Halloween!
5. New Orleans, LA
The Big Easy is big on Halloween. You know that if you’ve ever attended the Brews and Boos bash at Carousel Gardens or the iconic Halloween parade winding through the French Quarter and Central Business District. With so much to see and do, residents and businesses are bound to find themselves needing extra storage space for costumes, decorations, and other Halloween paraphernalia. That’s why, last November, there were 169 searches per 10k people on the topic of self storage units in New Orleans.
6. Chula Vista, CA
Chula Vista carries on the streak of cities that make California a haven for Halloween lovers. Residents put all their hearts into decorating their homes or putting together festive events, and the local economy is right behind them. The SeaWorld Howl-O-Scream and the Novo Halloween Bash gives everyone all the more reason to dress up and hit the town. Come November 2023, they also hit the internet for self storage, leading to a 38% surge in searches from the previous year.
7. Gilbert, AZ
Arizonians love their Halloween, and Gilbert definitely delivers. Here, residents can come together and share the spooky spirit at hotspots like the Scarizona Scaregrounds or the Gilbert Halloween Bar Crawl and Trunk or Treat. As such, the city’s demand for self storage saw a 20% rise in early November, both in 2022 and 2023.
8. Chandler, AZ
For Halloween vendors, Chandler is one of Arizona’s hottest markets. Local businesses like Spooky's Swirls are capitalizing on the spooky season with spider-topped cupcakes and monster-shaped cookies, while the Terror Trader market offers a wide range of macabre goodies, including life-sized statues and killer clown decor. And if these vendors didn’t have storage units before, they might have searched the web for them — here, the search interest grew by 19%.
9. Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salem really puts in the work on Halloween. The whole city gets into the spooky spirit, especially the Ardmore neighborhood – it's like a real-life Halloween town. With all the trick-or-treating and costume parties, you can tell why online searches for storage units in Winston-Salem jumped by 29% last November.
10. Omaha, NE
Omaha rounds out our list of the top 10 best cities where self storage fares best in early November — and no wonder! The Star City is a great place to be during Halloween, as Downtown, Benston, and Blackstone are all awash in haunted decorations and people dressed in elaborate costumes. That also means loads of stuff that need a place to go right after the spooky seasons, and, consequently, a 19% increase in online searches for self storage last November.
As Halloween ends and its spooky paraphernalia remains, the self storage industry finds itself in an interesting place. While the past two years brought a decline in self storage rent prices, early November has been slowing down this decrease, and specific cities are actually experiencing a surge in search interest and rental prices alike. As it turns out, the Halloween boom not only helps vendors and retailers, but also the industry where their products usually go after the spooky holiday — that is, the self storage market.
What the experts are saying
To learn more about consumer interest in Halloween, we've reached out to industry professionals.
Doug Ressler, Business Intelligence Manager at Yardi Matrix
Q: What are the benefits of using self storage in the wake of Halloween?
Doug Ressler, Business Intelligence Manager at Yardi Matrix
A: Self storage units are a convenient and secure way for consumers to keep their Halloween decorations, especially considering that many facilities offer climate-controlled storage. Delicate items like candles and latex masks can deteriorate in extreme temperatures, while climate-controlled units can keep them safe from temperature fluctuations.
Consumers can also use their storage units for big items like inflatables and tombstones. This keeps them in good condition without cluttering the home. To avoid damage, electronics such as fog machines and strobe lights should be kept their original boxes if possible. Otherwise, consumers can use cushioned packing materials and label boxes as "fragile".
Seth Williams, real estate broker at Sellin Boston.
Seth Williams, real estate broker at Sellinboston.com
Q: What Halloween items do people usually put into storage?
A: Larger, detailed Halloween decor, like skeletons and skulls, are often stored in self storage units, as they’re frequently too big or delicate to keep at home year-round. These decorations are valuable and bulky, making storage units an ideal option to keep them secure and in good condition.
Many people store a variety of Halloween signs and posters, from vintage posters to customized yard signs and life-sized Halloween character prints. These items can be fragile and sensitive to environmental damage, so using self storage allows them to be kept in a controlled space, safe from moisture, fading, or bending.
Q: Do you find self storage useful when it comes to Halloween?
A: For Halloween lovers, self storage is the best way to clean up their homes and keep the items safe for future events. Self storage protects high-quality or collectible Halloween goods against theft or damage. It helps one to organize and protect old Halloween decorations and costumes year-round. Climate-controlled storage protects fragile goods, while organized storage makes Halloween decorations easier to find. Plus, keeping decorations can be cheaper than buying new ones each year.
Methodology
This analysis was conducted by StorageCafe, an online platform that provides nationwide listings of storage units.
To rank the locations in terms of self storage demand and rate increase, we looked at the 100 most populated cities according to the U.S. ACS 1Y2023 report. The ranking is based on the price difference between the months of October and November in 2023 and the number of self storage-related searches in the same time period.
The cities that ranked highest are those where both the rent prices and search volumes increased during October-November.
Data concerning rent prices represent the average street rates of all types of units at the city level for October and November, as well as the percentage by which these averages rose from one month to the other.
Data concerning the search volume is based on the searches of the following keywords: “24 hour storage near me”, “cubesmart near me”, “mini storage near me”, “storage unit prices near me”, “extra space storage near me”, “auto storage near me”, “affordable storage units near me”, “auto storage near me”, “storage facilities near me”, “Storage near me” and “storage units near me”.
The search volumes for these keywords were extracted for each of the 100 cities during October-November of 2023 with the purpose of calculating the percentage by which the search interest increased or decreased in November as opposed to October.
The data for this analysis comes from Yardi Matrix, StorageCafe’s sister division, which offers a business development and asset management tool used by brokers, sponsors, banks, and equity sources for underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial, and self-storage sectors.
Fair use and distribution
This study serves as a resource for the general public on issues of common interest and should not be regarded as investment advice. The data is true to the best of our knowledge but may change if amendments to it are made. We agree to the distribution of this content but we do require a mention in return for attribution purposes.
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