News report
- 車位 - 投資知多啲
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(Chinese Version Only)
早前有報道指，黃竹杭珍寶閣有車位以逾400萬元的超級天價成交，甚至比同屋苑的樓還要貴，引起哄動，今期「理財專題」就和大家探討一下車位的投資價值及要點。
投資世界博大精深，除了最常見的股市、樓市等等外，亦有眾多諸如紅酒、的士牌及茶業等等的另類投資可供選擇，以往本刊亦曾對上述投資作專題剖析，下文將和大家分享車位方面的投資要點。
想要投資車位，自然必須先了解當中的優劣，Parkinghongkong.com的行政總裁Josh Wong在接受本刊訪問時指出，投資車位的好處在於上落風險較細，「車位的價格以往其實是比較穩定的，大升與大跌的機會都很微。」read more
資金由樓轉車位
不過，近年情況似乎已有改變，尤其是今年以來，經常會聽到某某地區或屋苑的車位成交價再見突破云云，同時成交量亦見迅速上升，這又是為何？Josh表示，最大的原因在於政府政策轉變，令車位的投資價值有所改變。
「政府推出額外印花稅（Special Stamp Duty，SSD），令部分樓市的資金流出，這些資金在尋找投資出路，正好車位投資並不會受額外印花稅的限制，回報亦相當不俗，因此令車位價格上揚。」
仍有一定升值空間
但車位價格至現時而言，已是累積了不少的升幅，或會有一定的高追風險，究竟應該如何抉擇？他認為，車位價格上揚的最大動力來自額外印花稅，因此，以現時來說，升值的誘因依然不變，而短期內政府亦不大可能會取消這項政策，所以，投資車位，於年內還是有一定的升值空間。
投資門檻較低
此 外，除升值方面的潛力外，車位的租金回報率普遍亦算不俗，甚至較樓宇租金為高，但其所需的入場費卻是較低。一般而言，車位的價格大概在幾十萬上下，當然是 遠較買樓為低，若能承造按揭的話，如能按5成左右（理論上最高可按7成）則可進一步將入場費降至十多二十萬，門檻因而較低。
而投資車位的另一好處，就在於其雜費支出較少，除開差餉及停車場管理費等外，幾乎沒有甚麼其他方面，例如是樓宇的維修、裝修等支出，亦不會出現如「租霸」等等令投資者得不嘗失的事項，因為只要停車場配合，就能輕易停止租戶汽車的進出資格。
至於怎樣選擇合適的車位，主要還是看供需的情況，例如可參考屋苑內單位對比車位的指標。而車位本身當然亦要好泊，因為，有些難泊的車位可以是長期無人問津的。
另外，Josh亦指出，方便是一大要素，要從車主的角度出發，離附近的配套場所要足夠近，「駕車本身就是為了要縮短距離，如果反而要再走遠一點，又有甚麼意思？」
他直言，車位是「幾考眼光」的一項投資，投資於一個錯誤的車位會是其中一個重大風險（其他風險因素見另文——「 車位市場太窄」）。
源御霆
經濟日報 理財專題
2012-04-10
- Parking Spaces a squeeze in busy urban areas of the city
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Finding a parking space in Hong Kong can sometimes be a daunting affair, especially in urban areas.
As of February, there were some 688,000 licensed vehicles in Hong Kong, up 6 per cent from a year ago, statistics from the Transport Department show. However, there were some 630,000 parking spaces-450,000 private and 180,000 public, excluding metered parking spaces- at the end of last year, according to the government’s development Bureau.
Josh Wong, CEO of specialist website and trader ParkingHK.com, says demand for parking space “varies”.
“Location is the key factor that determines how many spaces are needed in a particular area,” he says.
Factors such as whether there is a popular shopping centre, an MTR station and nearby commercial buildings determine how many motorists drive to a particular area, he explains.
“Most drivers would expect to reach their destination within a five-minute walk from the car park,” he says.
“Otherwise it makes little sense to drive.” read more
In urban areas, the typical monthly rent of a secure parking space is about HK$2,000 to HK$3,000, while it costs about HK$1,000 to HK$2,000 to rent a space in the New Territories, according to Wong.
But citing a monthly rental deal for HK$7,300 at the Belcher’s, a residential complex in Pok Fu Lam, Wong says the rental value of a parking space depends on location, like everything else in real estate.
He says there is a geographical demand and supply mismatch, with some areas suffering a limited supply and others having too many parking spaces.
Because of a lack of supply in urban areas, major car-park operators have raised their monthly and hourly rates by 5 to 25 per cent in recent months. A parking space in Causeway Bay now commands as much as HK$42 for an hour during weekends.
One indicator of the degree of such a geographical mismatch is the varying utilisation rates of government car parks.
According to the Transport Department, government multi-storey car-park complexes in Sheung Fung Street, Aberdeen, Shau Kei Wan, Tin Hau, Sheung Fung Street and Kennedy Town had a utilization rate of more than 70 per cent in January.
However, government-run car parks in other locations, such as City Hall(16 per cent), Middle Road(33 per cent), Star Ferry(41 per cent) and Yau Ma Tei(49 per cent), saw more than half of their spaces under-utilised during the month.
Due to their good location, temporary open parking spaces in urban areas are in great demand. In Kowloon East, for example, there were 34 temporary open-parking sites as of March, supplying about 6,600 slots. About five of them had a utilisation rate of over 90 per cent.
The tenancy of four of them, however, will expire this year to make way for the Kai Tak redevelopment project, which will add pressure on parking spaces in the area.
As far as investment is concerned, activity has slowed, notably this year. According to the Land Registry, and figures compiled by Midland Realty, transaction volumes of parking spaces fell 82 per cent year-on-year to 995 in the year to February. For the whole year, 2013 saw transaction volumes shrink by half to about 7,000 from a year ago, after a flurry of sales of residential parking spaces, most of them in the New Territories, by developers in 2012.
Nonetheless, most buyers have failed to flip their stock for a quick profit.
Investing in car parks should not be viewed as speculative, advises Alvin Ma, an estate agent with Midland Realty based in The Wings residential complex in Tseung Kwan O.
“Some buyers who can’t invest in a second home are still likely to turn to the car park market. I have a client living in The Wings who has ended up buying three slots for self-use and as rental property in the past two months,” he says.
“Parking spaces are 「sold for」about HK$1 million and can be let for aboutHK$4,000 to HK$4,100 a month here. That works out to a gross rental yield of around 4.8 to 4.9 per cent annually, which is quite a good return,” he adds.
There was one exception. A parking space at The Wings fetched HK$1.95 million in March, a record for Tseung Kwan O.
“Maintenance cost is very low and you don’t have to worry that your tenant doesn’t pay rent,” Ma says.
Kelvin Ng, a solicitor and partner at Yip Tse & Tang Solicitors, says before buying or selling a parking space, buyers or sellers have to check if the Deed of Mutual Covenant (DMC) of the building allows them to do so.
“Some DMCs simply don’t allow the car-park space to be ‘alienated’ separately from the flat, and the sale of a car-park space on its own is held to be a breach of the terms of the DMC,” he explains.
Another common restriction is that a car park must not be sold to a person who is not the owner of a unit in the building, he adds.
Following an assessment of likely demand for parking spaces by the Transport Department, the Planning Department has made certain amendments to its Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, with regard to the ratio of parking spaces to residential units in private housing estates.
In addition to the size of the units and the distance from the MTR, the building density, or the plot ratio, has become another determining factor to the number of car-park spaces to be built in a residential development.
If a residential development is allowed to include 100 parking spaces under the old rules, the new rules now require the developer to take the development density into account; the higher the plot ratio, the fewer parking spaces are permitted.
In the case of a project with a plot ratio of eight or above, an adjustment value of 0.75 will be used. So the total number of slots in this development will be cut to 75.
If a project is located within 500m of an MTR station, the number of parking spaces allowed is 25 per cent less than a location outside the 500m range. Under the old rules, the required difference was 15 per cent.
South China Morning Post
Jimmy Chow
2014-04-25
- Special car park investment guide
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(This is English translation of original Chinese interview)
這天唐榮收到一個宣傳電郵，「香港車位.com」，上網一看，找到一些對投資車位有用的材料。
網上資料顯示，香港城市停車場在1997年成立，也是英國停車協會會員之一，主要經營香港市中心的露天停車場為主。香港車位.com（http://www.parkinghongkong.com /chi/index.php）屬該公司建立的一個免費信息平台給所有對車位有興趣的人發表問題及意見，網站主要提供搜尋全港九各區車位的位置，租金及銷 售等服務，唐榮沒有詳細試用，不過，內裏一些文章資料頗值得公諸同好。
留意可否准非住客泊車
其中一篇指出，在香港的停車場大致分為住宅、工商業、政府、或露天停車場。不論投資或自用，
"Buyer should note if carpark allows non-resident to park vehicles."
"From investment point of view, customer base will be broaden if non-resident is allowed to park car. Resident will of course prefer to restrict to resident parking only." ParkingHK.com said. read more
Tong Wing
Hong Kong Economic Times, Property
2011-03-30
- Hong Kong parking spaces selling for big bucks
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Investors looking for new places to park their cash in Hong Kong are driving up prices for parking spaces, sparking fears of a bubble in the Asian financial center.
Prices for parking spots in Hong Kong are nearing historic highs, the side effect of government curbs to cool the housing market amid worries of overheating following the latest round of monetary stimulus in the U.S. last month.
Parking — and other real estate — in Hong Kong is expensive because both steep hills and past government policy to keep land supply tight means there is limited space to build on. Car ownership levels are relatively low but so are the number of parking spaces. The city has 443,442 private cars and 479,000 private parking spaces, according to government data.
Because Hong Kong's currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar, policymakers cannot take conventional measures to cool property prices like raising interest rates.
So the government tightened restrictions on property purchases, including bringing in a new stamp duty on foreign buyers. But parking spots and other non-residential property are exempt.
"The latest overseas buyers' stamp duty will just put some fuel onto that fire, and is making the whole parking space investment market go out of control," said Josh Wong, whose Hong Kong City Parking owns about 200 parking spots at eight lots around Hong Kong.
Many investors who buy spaces rent them out to car owners. Wong said he typically looks for an annual yield, or return, of 5 to 6 percent, but because
"Prices have risen,yields have been falling to about 4 to 5 percent." ParkingHK.com said
He said has even heard of investors making as little as 1.8 percent on their investment.
Wong, who also runs Parkinghk.com, a website for buyers and sellers of parking spots,
"the market was heating up because investors didn't need a lot of money to get started."read more
"One million Hong Kong dollars (US$129,000) cannot buy anything in Hong Kong. You cannot buy a shop, you cannot buy anything except car parking and that would help the car park investment go even more crazy," he said.
Associated Press 2012-11-27
