The nascent UK sector leads the way in Europe, with listed companies including Big Yellow performing well, writes Russell Handy 

An increasing acceptance of so-called niche property types is changing the investment landscape.

As investors venture beyond the traditional ‘big three’ real estate sectors, the general consensus has been that the residential and student housing sectors are the ‘best of the rest’.

Intrinsically linked to those two sectors is the nascent self-storage business.

The UK is the largest European market, with nearly 40% of all self-storage facilities, according to JLL and the Federation of European Self Storage Associations (FEDESSA). The UK market has about 16.5 stores per million people.

Read more: Alternatives Self-Storage: Opportunity locks | Magazine | IPE RE