£33.90/sq ft
Avg storage rate (South East & East)
Region
Self storage finance in the South East
The ring of commuter counties around London is the largest self storage catchment outside the capital, with high housing turnover, affluent households and strong operator coverage.
74.5%
Avg occupancy (UK, all stores)
5%
Prime storage yield
33,881
House sales, 12m (tracked towns)
With more than 9.6 million residents, the South East is the most populous of England's nine regions and contains both the South Downs and New Forest national parks. We arrange the full range of self storage finance across the South East, from the acquisition finance and commercial mortgages that buy and hold a trading store to the bridging, development, mezzanine and equity behind a build, a conversion or a container site. Self storage market data is published nationally by SSA UK and Cushman & Wakefield, so the figures above are presented as clearly-labelled benchmarks, with the regional rate attributed to its source, while the housing-transaction figure is genuinely local Land Registry data for the towns we track.
South East storage rates average £33.90 per sq ft on the SSA UK and Cushman & Wakefield 2025 report, second only to London, and the region's housing turnover gives stores here the deepest home-mover demand in the country. Operators compete hardest for M25-arc and Thames Valley sites, which keeps land pricing keen and pushes new supply toward conversions and edge-of-town drive-up formats. Lender appetite for trading stores in this region sits at the top of the market.
On capital values, the strongest public evidence comes from the listed operators' external valuations: Big Yellow's London and commuter-town weighted stores were valued at £458/sq ft of lettable area and its regional Armadillo stores at £185/sq ft (Big Yellow FY2026 results (JLL-valued), Mar 2026), with Safestore's UK estate at about ~£364/sq ft on a derived basis (Safestore FY2025 results (Cushman & Wakefield-valued), Oct 2025). The evidenced span from regional secondary to prime London and the South East runs at roughly £185 to £460/sq ft, on a going-concern trading basis rather than vacant possession.
Benchmark figures from SSA UK / Cushman & Wakefield Annual Industry Report 2025; SSA UK / Cushman & Wakefield; Savills, European Self Storage Spotlight. Regional commentary draws on SSA UK / Cushman & Wakefield (UK Annual Industry Report, 2025).
Key markets
Storage markets in the South East
The principal storage catchments across the region.
- Watford and the M25 arc
- Reading and the Thames Valley
- Milton Keynes
- Cambridge
- Brighton
- Maidstone and the Kent corridor
By county
Self storage finance by county in the South East
Choose a county for its towns, demand signals and local market profile.
Finance
The finance we arrange in the South East
Self storage acquisition finance
We arrange funding to buy an existing self storage facility or trading storage business anywhere in the UK.
Commercial mortgages and term loans
We arrange long-term commercial mortgages and term loans secured on trading self storage facilities.
Bridging finance
We arrange fast, short-term bridging loans secured on self storage sites and storage businesses across the UK.
Self storage development finance
We arrange funding for ground-up self storage builds, conversions of existing buildings and phased fit-out.
Mezzanine finance
We arrange junior debt that sits behind the senior facility and stretches your funding on a self storage development or investment.
Equity and joint venture capital
We introduce equity partners and structure joint ventures for self storage developers and operators across the UK.
Refinance and remortgage
We arrange refinancing that unlocks the value a trading self storage facility has built up.
Funding a storage facility in the South East?
Send us the outline and we will come back with a view on fundability and likely terms.