As flat prices soar in HK, investors park money down in the lot

HONG KONG: Esther Fan’s nest egg is tucked away in an old residential complex on the outskirts of Hong Kong – two parking spaces in a dimly-lit lot alongside dozens of luxury cars and a Mini Cooper with fake eyelashes on its headlights.

Her parking spots, marked out in mustard- coloured paint, have more than doubled in value in the past 18 months, with one surging to HK$ 1.6 million ( US$ 203,850.22) from HK$ 720,000.

Those gains have greatly outpaced the price growth of the flats in the building above them in Tai Wai district, some 30 minutes’ drive from the central business district on Hong Kong island.

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

The flats currently go for about HK$ 4.7 million per unit.

City-wide, while Hong Kong’s private homes roughly doubled in value between 2010 and 2017, the price of a parking spot in residential complexes around the city tripled to an average of HK$1.4 million, according to data from an independent website dedicated to the asset, CarparkHK.com.

“Flats are expensive, but their value won’t jump 100 per cent in roughly a year,” said Fan, who does not drive and rents both spaces out for HK$ 2,300 a month each.

“But that’s what’s happening with parking spots. It’s incredible.”

The boom is being fuelled by a surge of cars on Hong Kong’s roads and a red-hot housing market that pushes investors to park their money in assets with lower entrance fees.

Over the past 15 months, two thirds of parking spaces fetched more than HK$ 1 million, while one in five cost more than HK$ 2 million, according to data compiled by Midland Realty Services.

Last year, a parking spot inside a luxury residential complex was sold for an eye-watering HK$ 5.18 million, or US$ 664,200 at the time – a record for the city.

The parking spot’s price per square foot, at about US$ 3,500, outpaced the typical per square foot price of prime residential flats in major cities like Tokyo (US$ 3,280), London (US$1,770) and New York ( US$1,570), according to data from property consultancy Savills.

The only city that could top that is Hong Kong, at US$ 4,000 per square foot.

In 2014, a parking space in London’s South Kensington went for a staggering £ 480,000 - now equivalent to US$ 651,600 but US$ 759,500 at the time. — Reuters

The entrance of a car park at a private property development, where insurance agent Esther Fan has bought a parking spot as an investment, is pictured in Hong Kong. — Reuters photo

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