Demography is the study of people – for businesses and industries. It helps answer two questions: “Who will buy my stuff, and who will do the work?”

Good demographic analysis goes further.

Which age groups are growing? What stage of life are they entering? Where will they live? How much money, time and space will they have?

Will your industry have enough workers to serve them? Are demographics kind to you or do population trends make your life harder? 

Compare two sectors sitting at opposite ends of Australia’s demographic spectrum.

One has almost every major trend working in its favour. The other has almost every trend working against it. 

Welcome to the demographic lottery. 

Self-storage. Unlikely demographic champion 

Self-storage is not the most glamorous industry in the Australian economy. 

The product is essentially a securely locked cube of empty air.

Customers fill it with furniture, bicycles, boxes, Christmas decorations and exercise equipment that will definitely be used again one day. 

Yet self-storage might be the closest thing Australia has to a demographic all-weather business. 

Across Australia and New Zealand, about 9.2 per cent of adults use self-storage.

Facilities average 85 per cent occupancy and the sector is valued at about $20 billion, according to the Self Storage Association of Australasia. 

Australian homes remain extraordinarily expensive relative to household incomes. Younger households buy or rent smaller homes, remain in apartments for longer, move further from the city or stay with their parents. 

Buying an additional bedroom, a bigger garage or more land is prohibitively expensive. Renting a few square metres in a storage facility is much cheaper. 

Self-storage allows households to separate their living space from their stuff. You might not be able to afford a bigger home, but you can rent the equivalent of an extra cupboard or garage elsewhere. 

Greater urban density strengthens the case.

Australia needs more townhouses, apartments and smaller dwellings in established suburbs. That shift is necessary, but smaller homes come with less storage. 

The spare bedroom becomes the nursery. The garage becomes the home office. The apartment cage downstairs is full within three weeks. 

Self-storage becomes the pressure-release valve. 

Millennials are now Australia’s biggest generation. They are aged from their late-20s to mid-40s and are moving through the family formation and peak consumption stage of the lifecycle. 

Families accumulate stuff –........

© The New Daily