As talk of a double dip and plummeting house prices abound, figures just out from Safestore, the self storage company, shows that more and more people are selling up and moving into rented property, to sit tight and await the outcome of a significant drop in house prices. Figures released today from Nationwide confirm that house prices dropped for a second month in August as the imbalance in supply and demand that drove prices higher in 2009 continues to unwind, according to the building society.

Safestore say they are seeing unprecedented levels of occupancy growth in their storage business, 26% higher than in the comparable period in 2009. The data has shown that one of the primary reasons for this is from people selling their current properties and then using storage to house their possessions, whilst they move into rental properties to bide their time before buying again.

Mortgage lending dived sharply last month to its second lowest levels since records began, down to just £86 million in July, a significant drop from June’s level of £518 million, according to reports from the Bank of England.

Neil Riding, COO of Safestore, said: “Understandably, many people are wary about leaping into another house purchase. Having capitalised on recent house sales, our records show that more and more UK people are moving into rented accommodation to wait for the outcome – they will have sold at a peak in the market and are now waiting for house prices to drop off. House owners have become much more savvy about playing the housing market, particularly after the financial crisis and the availability of self storage facilities really helps them to be as flexible as possible. Storage enables them to keep many of their possessions in a safe and secure location until they are ready to move on again.”