Sydney parking third most expensive in world Author: Carolyn Cummins Date: 19/07/2008 Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
IF HAVING to pay high petrol prices is not enough, a survey shows Sydney CBD car parking spaces continue to rank among the most expensive in the world.
Although owning a car space is considered a positive for building landlords, more office workers are catching the bus, which has pushed the price of the spaces even higher.
Sydney's CBD has become the most expensive city in the Asia-Pacific region and the third most expensive in the world for monthly parking rates, with a median unreserved rate of $US774.76 ($792).
The main car parking areas in Sydney are owned by corporate trusts. In May Mariner Financial withdrew the Sydney Opera House car park from sale. It had been expected to fetch $120 million.
At the same time management of the Domain car park near the Royal Botanic Gardens was taken from the City of Sydney Council by Challenger Diversified Property Group.
Colliers International's 2008 Global CBD Parking Rates Survey was conducted last month and covered a broad selection of 138 cities across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
While the results represent an increase from last year's survey, in which Sydney was ranked fourth on the global rankings with a rate of $US668, commuters can take some relief that they are still a long way behind London, which took out the two top spots.
Not surprisingly, the most expensive monthly median rate was recorded in London city at $US1166.87, followed by London's west end at $US1135.76.
This compared with Midtown, New York, where the median rate was $US585, and central Tokyo, where it was $US552. Coming in between Sydney and Brisbane was Hong Kong, where the median rate was $US742.40.
Felice Spark, the state director of commercial research for Colliers International, said the results for monthly parking rates showed a clear correlation between plummeting office vacancies and car parking costs.
"Coupled with this, parking stock within CBDs across the country is increasingly tight," she said.
"This dearth of parking and accompanying rise in cost, coupled with skyrocketing petrol prices - all in the face of a stagnating economy - exacerbates the everyday headaches faced by commuters nationwide."