Location, location! Even when it’s a parking space

Forget a spare room – buying a parking space near Sydney’s prestigious Circular Quay costs as much as a strata unit in cities like Perth, Adelaide or Hobart.

With average apartment prices near the iconic location between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House setting you back millions, perhaps pitching a tent or parking a Kombi in a car spot is a new asset class to consider.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports a May 16 auction of six prime parking lots near Circular Quay have set a new price record – 85 square metres of concrete sold for a combined $3.65 million.

That’s an average of $600,000 for a 14 square metre parking bay without a harbour view.

Colliers sold the single title parking spaces, which are close to neighbouring Quay Quarter and other high-end residential towers like Opera Residences, Bennelong Apartments and Lendlease’s One Circular Quay (still under construction).

The most expensive single car space in Sydney had previously been set on Notts Avenue, in Bondi, when it sold for $304,700 in January 2024.

Trying to park near Bondi Beach is notoriously difficult. And the Bondi spot gave prime position for those who want to dine or swim at Icebergs.

New Record

The new record is a reminder that parking – especially secure parking in premium locations where on-street parking is disappearing – are an asset class all of their own.

If you’ve got a car space in a prime area, it might be your next goldmine. So make sure your strata scheme is looking after it.

Complaints about car spots being used as junk dumps are legion in the Flat Chat Forum. And so are complaints by owners of being breached for storing stuff in their car spaces. But nobody is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a car space that has a pile of junk on either side.

And, while we a re talking big bucks, be careful that you aren’t buying into a lengthy and expensive batttle over who is allowed to park in your building, like the owners corp in this story