Man cave storage units: Sydney’s new investment trend
Man cave storage units: Sydney’s new investment trend
Space-poor Sydneysiders looking for an entry into the property market are turning storage units into offices and man caves.
Jessica McSweeney
Follow
@jessicamacca
less than 2 min read
November 11, 2021 – 10:12AM
The Sunday Telegraph
Storage units are great ways to store those extra boxes of belongings that don’t fit in the house, but some savvy Sydneysiders are using the small units to break into the property market, to store luxury cars, and even as an office.
Independent storage units are popping up around the city as demand increases for space away from the home with creative investors even using the units to break into the ever competitive Sydney property market.
Jeremy Hay will soon build an office in his unit. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
Urban Box in Kogarah has 205 storage units selling from $120,000 to $260,000 per unit for owner occupiers to store their belongings or to rent out with an expected return of 4 per cent per annum.
Jeremy Hay, from Sydney’s south, hopes soon to downsize to an apartment, so purchased a unit to store his two classic Mustangs.
“It’s a global phenomenon,” Mr Hay said.
“More often than not I come here, sit in the cars and watch the football on the iPad with a beer in my hand.”
The storage unit man cave trend comes direct from the US where units have been made over as a home away from home complete with bar fridges, televisions and leather couches.
In the US companies with names like “Man Caves” have sky rocketed in popularity after the pandemic, with working from home and home schooling leading working dads and mums to look for places to relax outside the home.
“Given the situation with Covid and what we lived through the past few years, that’s another consideration – how we are all working has changed,” he said.
“We’ve got full Wi-Fi access in there, a little kitchenette, its quite well set up and its full security monitored.”
“I think it’ll become more popular particularly as more people are apartment residing and people like me who are dreaming of downsizing one day.”
Developer Adam Dominelli said the storage units, which are managed by strata, are a great investment opportunity.
“We believe the facility will provide self-managed superannuation funds with an excellent exposure to the property market, offering comparatively good rental income and stable tenancies,” he said.
