Hong Kong’s plan to add more car parks won’t resolve shortage, exorbitant prices of spaces in near term analysts warn

Property agents are sceptical about proposals to increase provision of parking spaces

City is famous for the eye-watering price tags on residential parking bays, with one selling for a world-record US$969,000 last year

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Hong Kong’s parking bays are famous for changing hands at mind-boggling prices. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:30am, 4 Aug 2020Updated: 6:00pm, 4 Aug 2020

A government plan to increase the supply of car parking space in Hong Kong would do little to resolve the chronic shortage that supports their eye-watering prices in the near term, analysts said.

The new proposals include building new car parks on land designated for “government, institution or community” use or open space, and carrying out a review of parking provisions laid out in guidelines with a view to adding more spaces, according to the Transport Advisory Committee.

The government is pursuing a host of short and medium- to long-term measures to increase car parking spaces to catch up with market demand, it added.

The provision of parking bays in Hong Kong has lagged far behind the uptake of cars over the years, resulting in a huge imbalance between supply and demand. A parking space at The Center, an upmarket 73-storey office tower, changed hands last October for HK$7.6 million (US$969,000), making it the most expensive spot on earth to park a vehicle.

The proposed revisions of parking standards by the Transport Department would “increase the provision of private car parking spaces in future private and subsidised housing developments as well as the provision of commercial vehicle parking spaces in subsidised housing estates,” it said in a July 28 statement.