Parking Space Sells for $1.01 Million, Possible New Record
A parking space in Hong Kong has just sold for more than $1 million, which could make it the most expensive parking spot in the world. For now, at least.
Kowloon's Ho Man Tin district has some very hot real estate. With big money condos, homes, and apartments plus one of the most densely populated cities in the world comes some very expensive spots for parking.
The space sold for HK $6 million. That's about $1.01 million Canadian. And it's not as much of an outlier as you'd expect. The average parking spot in the area now sells for around $2.25 million, according to Bloomberg. That's just under CAD $380,000. The figure is up six times in the last 12 years, nearly double the increase in home prices. No word on how big the parking space is either, but it's likely not that generous.
Government taxes on residential properties, developers who don't want to use up valuable space for cars, and speculating investors are all driving the costs.
Some collectors are moving their fleet out of the country to save money on storage. Darrin Woo told Bloomberg that he has shipped his 1968 Mercedes-Benz Pullman and 1957 Fiat Abarth to California. "Buy a space? No way. I could buy five cars for that much."
The increasing cost of parking spaces is becoming an issue in many cities with high real estate costs. A building in New York City has advertised spaces for as much as US $1 million, although it's not known if they've actually sold for that amount. Other parking spaces in Boston's Back Bay area have sold for US $560,000 for a pair last year, and a space near London's Royal Albert Hall sold for £400,000 (around $732,000 at the time) back in 2014.
Canadian spaces don't appear to be trading for near seven-figure sums. Or even near six-figure ones. The most expensive space currently listed in Toronto is a space located near Queen's Park for $79,000. Vancouver doesn't have many spaces for sale either, but one in the city's Yaletown neighbourhood reportedly sold for $45,000.
