Hong Kong’s parking rate is Asia’s highest

Hong Kong’s rental yield of car parking spaces tops 4% per annum, relatively higher than the other sectors such as residential and office properties.

The cost of parking a car in terms of daily or monthly rate generally increased over the past twelve months. Among the top ten, no single region dominated in this year’s survey, with North America, Europe and Asia Pacific represented by a broad mix of cities. Although Latin America is the only region that is not included in the top ten, all the surveyed cities in the region registered double digit increases for both daily and monthly parking, according to Colliers International’s Global Parking Rate Survey 2011, covering 156 central business districts around the world, .

The parking rate in London, which has consistently took the top spot in the world by a significant margin of 25-35% over the past four years, was the priciest in the world again in the 2011 survey. The monthly parking rate of the City (USD 1,083.59) and West End (USD 1,014.32) ranked number one and number two worldwide, respectively, which is the same as the survey result in 2010.

The parking rates in local currency of both Zurich and Hong Kong recorded no change over the past twelve months. However, Zurich has replaced Hong Kong to move into the third position in the world due to a dramatic rise in the Swiss franc against U.S. dollar terms.

Parking spaces in the core CBD areas of Hong Kong are very limited and major new supply is not expected in the near term. Meanwhile, parking demand is on the rise, largely boosted by the increasing number of new private car registrations. Thus, the increasing demand amidst limited supply explains the sustained expensive parking rate,” said Willis Mak, Director of Investment Services, Colliers International Hong Kong.

“Benefiting from the high parking rates, rental yield of car parking spaces in Hong Kong is about 4% per annum, which is relatively higher than the other sectors such as residential and office properties,” commented Mak. “However, the banks’ conservative mortgage plan on car parking spaces and the very limited stock available for sale are the limitations for investment. Therefore, investors in car parking spaces are generally small-to-medium budget investors and look for steady rental income.”

In Asia, the monthly parking rate in Hong Kong sustained to be the most expensive, followed by Tokyo. Meanwhile, the region’s cheapest city to park in is Mumbai, India (USD 27.50 per month) in terms of monthly rate and Jakarta, Indonesia (USD 0.92 per month) in terms of daily rate.