More people shift investments in properties to parking lots, as roadside rates accelerate.

An increasing number of investors in Hong Kong have turned to parking lots, which are in huge demand in the Chinese city, to make major profits.  read more

 

The rates for parking spaces in Hong Kong, a city with a population of about seven million people, have skyrocketed partly because of people switching their investments to avoid new property taxes.

 

Cars, like many big cities around the world, Hong Kong has a lot of them. If you have a car, you need somewhere to park it. But when space in general is a luxury many people can not afford, the value of the places you leave your wheels can be priceless.

 

"In Hong Kong, car parking space is always in short demand, especially in some special location, say in Peak area or at Mid Level , mostly the carpark to residential flat ratio is only 4 flats to one carpark so the demand for these properties are very huge." say James Cheung of Centaline Surveyors.

 

Like this exclusive development on the South side of the Hong Kong Island, 5 Repulse Bay Road,  a single parking space recently sold for almost US$395,000, the highest ever recorded. The high rate is partly because of investors swirching their money from property to parkings as they try to avoid new tases introduced to control property prices. 

 

"I have one lady who bought 3 parking spaces within an hour through my website, and that amazes me." Josh Wong of Parkinghk.com, operating 10 parking garages in Hong Kong and also run a website advertising car spaces for sales or rent. 

 

He said right now parking is a better bet than placing the money in the bank. "If you have HK$1 million or US$120,000 stacked aside at the bank and don't know what to do with it, rather than collecting less than 1% per year on your deposit as your interest, you will get 4-5% if you invest in parking space." Wong siad.  Part of the attraction is the low entry level required to get into the parking market, unlike the conventional properties. Mortgages are also available if you need to borrow cash to get your desired parking spot.

 

There is no telling how long the car park investment craze will last, but right now there is no sign of it slowing down, and some say only government intervention will really bring the craze to a halt. 

 

Interview of Parkinghk,com's Director, Josh Wong by