Hong Kong’s punters plunge into car parking bays, sending transactions to records amid rollback of stamp duty
- Deals for 9,600 parking spaces are expected in 2021 with the value topping HK$18.5 billion (US$2.37 billion), pushing it past the previous record of US$2.1 billion in 2018
- 8,788 transactions worth HK$17 billion were recorded in the first 11 months of the year
A limited supply of car parking spaces in Hong Kong, coupled with the removal of double stamp duty, has whetted investors’ appetite for this corner of the property segment, which is likely to push turnover to an all-time high this year.
A total of 9,600 parking spaces in the city are expected to change hands in 2021 with the value topping HK$18.5 billion (US$2.37 billion), erasing the previous record of HK$16.6 billion in 2018, according to a research note by Centaline Property Agency.
The number of deals will also be the highest since 2015 when 10,016 transactions were conducted. They, however, will fall short of the record 12,628 transactions in 2012. The number of deals this year is estimated to be 70 per cent higher than last year’s 5,658 deals, while the value is expected to increase 76 per cent from last year’s HK$10.5 billion.
“The numbers show that car parking space is surrounded by strong buying interest, and investors are zealous about owning them,” Wong Leung-sing, senior associate director of research at Centaline wrote in the report.
03:23
Why car park ownership is big business in Hong Kong
The removal of the double stamp duty, known as Doubled Ad Valorem Stamp Duty, in late November last year revived investors’ appetite for this segment, analysts said.
The duty was introduced in February 2013 to curb speculative activity in the property market. It doubled stamp duty rates across the board, but they reverted to their original rates after the roll back.