What could possibly cost more than a flat in space-starved Hong Kong?

HSBC and Standard Chartered have even started offering mortgages for these products.

Reuters reports that parking spaces have not escaped the skyrocketing price growth characteristic of commercial and residential properties in Hong Kong as prices have tripled on average between 2010 to 2017.

Also read: Hong Kong Central's office space is still the world's priciest

A flat worth $720,000 could easily double in value in the past 18 months, significantly outstripping the price growth of the flats as a boom in car ownership has residents scrambling for limited parking lots in space-starved Hong Kong.

It took about seven years for the flats, measuring only around 300 square feet (28 square metres), to record the same growth of 120%, according to data from Centaline Property Agency.

A record-breaking deal was registered last year when a parking spot inside a luxury residential complex was sold for a whopping $5.18m whose US$3,500 price per square foot puts it at par with luxury homes in cities like Tokyo, London and New York.

Some banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered have even started offering mortgages tailored for parking spots as residents scramble to cash in on the profitable boom.

“Flats are expensive, but their value won’t jump 100 percent in roughly a year,” said Esther Fan, who owns two parking spaces and rents them out a monthly rate of $2,300 each. “But that’s what’s happening with parking spots. It’s incredible.”

Here’s more from Reuters: