Public Storage (PSA) has done well for me since August of 2020. It’s up 51.3% in my Medium Yield Portfolio. Their current dividend yield is 2.19%.

Self-storage stocks have been big gainers since last year’s economic lockdown, outrunning e-commerce warehouses, rebounding malls and rental houses. 

Investors dumped self-storage stocks when the pandemic hit, unaware that the business of leasing lockers was about to boom. Americans cleared out bedrooms and garages for home offices and gyms. Others packed up apartments and headed for Covid-19 cabins or home from campus. Businesses fearing shortages rented space to stash inventory. Availability dwindled and rents shot up. 

Since Feb 21., 2020, just before the pandemic tanked markets, self-storage shares in the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index have returned more than 85% between price gains and dividend payments. That compares with a roughly 18% return on the broader real-estate investment trust index, which tracks the performance of 153 companies that own income-producing properties, from cell towers to timberland.

Industrial properties, data centers and McMansions also outperformed during the pandemic. But none nearly as much as self-storage.

Extra Space Storage Inc. shares are twice as valuable as when the pandemic began, and Public Storage stock has returned 73%. The S&P 500 index, to which both companies’ shares belong, has delivered a total return of about 41% over that time.

Self Storage Is the Pandemic’s Hot Property – WSJ