Concrete Analysis | Price volatility high for Hong Kong parking spaces

More than 6,700 private residential parking spaces were bought and sold last year, slightly exceeding the number for 2013. These transactions included both new and second-hand parking spaces, averaging HK$1.03 million per space and with new spaces representing 56 per cent of the total transactions.

A bit more detail would be to say the average for a new space is HK$1.31 million, while that for a second-hand spot is HK$840,000.

Furthermore, the average price for a Hong Kong Island parking space is HK$1.41 million, HK$1.22 million for Kowloon, and HK$780,000 for the New Territories.

The data comes from the website of Centaline Agency, from 1997 to 2014, although 2014 represents only the 11 months to November.

We have more observations:

• The parking space price volatility is high at 0.48 based on standard deviation. This means investment risk is not light and is greater than for residential properties as a whole. Also, new parking spaces appear to exhibit slightly higher volatility than second-hand; and

• The average price of a new parking space has already more than exceeded its 1997 peak, while that of a second-hand space still lags behind the 1997 high point. In 1997, a new space traded for an average of HK$970,000, while a second-hand spot required HK$1.36 million. Fast-forward to 2014 and the new space is now HK$1.31 million while the second-hand is only HK$840,000.