U-Haul Holding Company grew its self-storage business nearly 7% in its fiscal first quarter even as occupancy softened, while profit declined as its core truck-rental business faced headwinds, the company said in results released Aug. 5 for the quarter ended June 30.
Self-storage revenue rose $15.9 million, or 6.8%, to $250.2 million. Same-store occupancy fell 4.5 percentage points to 88.3%, but revenue per square foot rose 7.6%, indicating the company pushed rates higher even as it filled a smaller share of its units. Self-moving equipment rental revenue, U-Haul’s largest segment, totaled $1,087.6 million, and total consolidated revenue reached $1,682.0 million.
Storage footprint keeps expanding
U-Haul’s real estate footprint in self-storage continues to grow: the company added 18 new storage locations during the quarter, totaling 1.1 million net rentable square feet, bringing its owned portfolio to 1,642 locations with 74.7 million rentable square feet and roughly 1.15 million total storage units. Another 12 million net rentable square feet is in development or pending, pointing to continued expansion in a sector that has also seen major consolidation this year, including Public Storage’s $10.5 billion acquisition of National Storage Affiliates.
Overall profitability declined. Net earnings available to common shareholders fell to $122.9 million from $142.3 million a year earlier, and earnings per non-voting share dropped to 63 cents from 73 cents. Moving and Storage segment EBITDA decreased $8.5 million to $536.7 million, while trailing twelve-month adjusted EBITDA stood at $1,637.3 million. U-Haul’s fleet includes 207,600 trucks, 136,500 trailers and 43,200 towing devices.
Truck resale market still a drag, but improving
“The pickup and van resale market is tepid, yet we produced a gain on sale this quarter after several quarters of losses,” said Joe Shoen, chairman of U-Haul Holding Company. “Our U-Haul truck resale team is thoughtfully gaining ground.”
U-Haul’s storage growth mirrors a broader theme playing out across the self-storage REIT sector this year: operators are generally holding or raising rates even where occupancy has softened from pandemic-era peaks, betting that pricing power outweighs the benefit of chasing full buildings. Rival Extra Space Storage posted 4.9% core FFO growth in the second quarter with occupancy holding roughly steady, a somewhat different pattern from U-Haul’s rate-over-occupancy tradeoff this quarter.
What it means
The revenue, occupancy and profit figures are drawn directly from U-Haul’s own earnings release, a primary source for the quarter’s results. The occupancy decline alongside rising revenue per square foot suggests U-Haul is prioritizing rate growth over full occupancy in its storage business, a common strategy among storage operators when demand softens but pricing power remains. Shoen’s comments on the truck resale market reflect the company’s own read on a segment that has weighed on results for multiple quarters, and the modest gain on sale this quarter is presented by the company as an early sign of improvement rather than a confirmed trend reversal.
What to watch: whether the 12 million square feet of storage space in U-Haul’s development pipeline continues expanding the company’s real estate footprint even as same-store occupancy softens, a combination that will test whether new supply outpaces demand in markets where U-Haul is building.
