I think its time that people wake the F$%# up and realize whats going on. $200,000 for a car space.....
New York buyers pay $200,000 for car space
Transport: Julie Earle-Levine | September 15, 2007
A PARKING garage is always a bonus when buying a city apartment, but in Manhattan, buyers can expect to compete for it.
The average cost of a garage there is a whopping $US165,000 ($200,000) according to a report by Miller Samuel, a New York real estate appraisal firm.
The report, studying Manhattan co-op and condominium parking spaces, found that many people are willing to pay even more.
Eight people in downtown Chelsea were competing to buy one of five parking spaces for $US225,000, or $US1500 a square foot.
Even in Brooklyn, prices are steep, at $US125,000 for one new development.
Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel, says parking in new developments -- there are a flood of new condos in the city -- is selling for twice what it was five years ago.
He estimates fewer than 1 per cent of all co-op and condo buildings in the city have private garages.
The city also limits how much parking new buildings below 60th Street can offer, requiring that no more than 20 per cent of the units have spaces.
"Parking is a rare amenity in Manhattan and in the past five years, the value of that amenity has more closely tracked the overall value of housing," he says.
Daily parking costs about $US40 in mid-town Manhattan.
Getting a monthly spot in an often hard to reach location for $US200 is considered a bargain.
Is there a market in buying parking garages? "Not really. You can usually only buy one if you live in the building," Miller says.
"It just enhances the marketability of an apartment."
It's no wonder parking spaces (competing for them and explosive street brawls over them) and parking garages (getting one on the "cheap" through a friend) are among the episodes on Seinfeld.
For developers in New York, parking is the highest and best use for below grade space and earns about the same price per square foot as living space, which costs more to develop.
So developers can now sell space that was essentially unusable as residential for the same price per square foot as apartments.
According to Miller Samuel, the average parking space costs $US165,019 or $US1100/sqft, close to the average apartment price of $US1107/sqft.
"Parking allows city dwellers to still have the suburban ideal where they can park their car and walk right into their homes, and this is the price people pay."
Buyers and brokers believe prices will go even higher.
Miller believes prices are now mirroring housing prices.
"At least in the short term I do not think you will see them follow a different trend. They will be more in sync with housing."
Forty parking garages or lots in the city have closed in the past nine months, while only 23 new ones have opened, according to an official parking garage guide to the city.
New York buyers pay $200,000 for car space
Transport: Julie Earle-Levine | September 15, 2007
A PARKING garage is always a bonus when buying a city apartment, but in Manhattan, buyers can expect to compete for it.
The average cost of a garage there is a whopping $US165,000 ($200,000) according to a report by Miller Samuel, a New York real estate appraisal firm.
The report, studying Manhattan co-op and condominium parking spaces, found that many people are willing to pay even more.
Eight people in downtown Chelsea were competing to buy one of five parking spaces for $US225,000, or $US1500 a square foot.
Even in Brooklyn, prices are steep, at $US125,000 for one new development.
Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel, says parking in new developments -- there are a flood of new condos in the city -- is selling for twice what it was five years ago.
He estimates fewer than 1 per cent of all co-op and condo buildings in the city have private garages.
The city also limits how much parking new buildings below 60th Street can offer, requiring that no more than 20 per cent of the units have spaces.
"Parking is a rare amenity in Manhattan and in the past five years, the value of that amenity has more closely tracked the overall value of housing," he says.
Daily parking costs about $US40 in mid-town Manhattan.
Getting a monthly spot in an often hard to reach location for $US200 is considered a bargain.
Is there a market in buying parking garages? "Not really. You can usually only buy one if you live in the building," Miller says.
"It just enhances the marketability of an apartment."
It's no wonder parking spaces (competing for them and explosive street brawls over them) and parking garages (getting one on the "cheap" through a friend) are among the episodes on Seinfeld.
For developers in New York, parking is the highest and best use for below grade space and earns about the same price per square foot as living space, which costs more to develop.
So developers can now sell space that was essentially unusable as residential for the same price per square foot as apartments.
According to Miller Samuel, the average parking space costs $US165,019 or $US1100/sqft, close to the average apartment price of $US1107/sqft.
"Parking allows city dwellers to still have the suburban ideal where they can park their car and walk right into their homes, and this is the price people pay."
Buyers and brokers believe prices will go even higher.
Miller believes prices are now mirroring housing prices.
"At least in the short term I do not think you will see them follow a different trend. They will be more in sync with housing."
Forty parking garages or lots in the city have closed in the past nine months, while only 23 new ones have opened, according to an official parking garage guide to the city.
