AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to a survey commissioned by self-storage marketplace SpareFoot, one in six American adults (16 percent) moved within the past 12 months, with 57 percent of those movers relocating to homes just 25 miles away or less. The most common reason for relocating was to settle into a bigger or better home (18 percent), and the second most popular reason was moving for work (15 percent). Both of those statistics point to positive economic movement.
“Our survey shows that, buoyed by the continuing economic recovery, more Americans are on the move. This is a good sign for the housing market and for any company that helps people move,” said Chuck Gordon, CEO of SpareFoot.
The release of the survey results coincides with the kickoff of the first-ever National Moving Day. Each year, the day after Memorial Day (this year, May 28) is one of the busiest days of the year for moving and jumpstarts the summer moving season.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 12 percent of Americans older than age 1 changed residences in 2012. The moving period covered by the SpareFoot survey was spring 2012 to spring 2013. The Census Bureau says 11.6 percent of Americans older than 1 moved between 2010 and 2011 — a record-low percentage. In the SpareFoot survey, the South was the region with the highest percentage of movers (19 percent), followed by the West (18 percent), the Midwest (14 percent) and the Northeast (12 percent).
Tron Jordheim, vice president of marketing at StorageMart, said National Moving Day — which has been known for years in the self-storage industry as “Crazy Tuesday” — marks the start of the busiest time of year for the self-storage business. “The demand for storage and the resulting call volume and foot traffic are enormous on this day at self-storage facilities across the U.S. It is the self-storage equivalent to retail’s Black Friday,” Jordheim said.
Leading companies that work with SpareFoot, like Penske Truck Rental, also experience a surge in activity on National Moving Day and during the moving season that follows.
“National Moving Day marks an unofficial start of our peak do-it-yourself moving season for one-way and local truck rentals at our over 2,200 locations across North America,” said Don Mikes, senior vice president of Rental for Penske. “Our rental truck fleet consists of more than 50,000 vehicles. We offer consumers one of the newest truck rental fleets in the industry and free, unlimited miles on one-way moves.”
Survey methodology
In three surveys, Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 3,004 adults in the continental United States. Telephone interviews were conducted by landline (1,501) and cellphone (1,503, including 745 without a landline phone). The surveys were done in English by Princeton Data Source from April 25-28, May 2-5 and May 9-12, 2013. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
About SpareFoot
SpareFoot, based in Austin, TX, makes renting self-storage easy. Our free marketplace lets customers find and reserve storage units online. We have the largest inventory of storage units in the U.S., with a network of more than 6,500 facilities, ranging from mom-and-pop to publicly traded REIT. We reach millions of people who need storage through exclusive partnerships with brands like SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com and Penske Truck Rental. SpareFoot brings consumers and facilities together to deliver the most convenient and enjoyable storage experience possible online, offline and via mobile. For more information, visit www.sparefoot.com.
