An increase in public car parking charges will probably make renting private parking spaces more expensive, estate agents say
Rents for private parking spaces may rise again this year if public car parking charges increase, as seems probable, estate agents say.
Some estate agents have told Business Daily that rents might rise by up to 30 percent.
According to CarparKing Co. Ltd, the districts of Areia Preta and Horta e Costa have the highest rents for private parking spaces.
The rent for a parking slot there can reach between 2,000 patacas (US$250) and 2,500 patacas per month, on average.
CarparKing’s general manager, Chan Lik Ki, said rents were lower in the NAPE district and on Taipa, where they ranged between 1,000 patacas and 1,500 patacas.
CarparKing specialises in letting or selling parking spaces.
“Northern districts like Areia Preta and Fai Chi Kei have the highest rents and prices as these areas are usually densely populated,with a high number of vehicles but a lack of supply of parking spaces,” Mr Chan said.
He said rents for parking spaces, particularly in the north, had doubled in the past two years from around 1,000 patacas.
He expects rents to climb by up to another 30 percent if the government increases public car parking charges.
“If the government decides to raise the charges for some public car parks, this will definitely spur the private market to follow their lead,” Mr Chan said.
The Transport Bureau said on December 28 that it would consult the public in the first quarter of this year about changes in road traffic control measures, including increases in public car parking charges.
The bureau said charges might increase by different amounts in different districts.
Midland Realty (Macau) Ltd’s chief executive, Ronald Cheung Yat Fai, shares Mr Chan’s view.
“The increase in public parking charges will push up rents in the private the market, where the rate of return remains relatively low at the moment,” said Mr Cheung. “There is still room for a rise.”
He said, for instance, that a parking space worth 1 million patacas could be let for only around 1,000 patacas per month, meaning the annual rate of return was less than 2 percent.
But he does not expect sales of parking spaces to be much affected by any increases in public car parking charges.
Official data show that in November last year the city had over 216,000 motor vehicles, including over 94,000 light vehicles and more than 115,000 motorcycles, but that it had public parking for only 11,552 vehicles.
CarparKing estimates that the city has about 50,000 private parking spaces.
Parking space prices immune to new levy
Private parking spaces are still regarded as an easy and relatively cheap investment
The expansion of the special stamp duty to cover sales of private parking spaces on October 30 has reduced the number sold but not the prices paid for them, estate agents say.
The general manager of CarparKing Co. Ltd, Chan Lik Ki, told Business Daily that the expansion of the special stamp duty, meant to cool the property market, had tightened the supply of parking spaces but that demand remained strong.
CarparKing specialises in letting or selling parking spaces.
“The owners were quick to adjust to the new curbs. They either increased their prices by 20 percent to 30 percent or stopped selling temporarily,” said Mr Chan.
The special stamp duty is a levy of 20 percent on the sale of property of certain kinds if it is sold within one year of purchase, or 10 percent if it is sold within two years.
Mr Chan said a parking space in the Areia Preta area could cost over 2 million patacas (US$250,000), about two-thirds of the cost of some small flats.
He said the number of parking spaces sold had dropped by about 30 percent, but that rents for parking spaces had surged as more people rented them.
Midland Realty (Macau) Ltd’s chief executive, Ronald Cheung Yat Fai, expects the number of parking spaces sold and the prices paid for them to rise this year as hot money flows into the city.
Mr Cheung pointed out that the special stamp duty now covers sales of almost all kinds of property.
“The investment limit on car parks is low compared to other properties,” he told Business Daily.
