Hong Kong: where parking spaces may cost more than your house

[soulflower]

Bad government policy or corrupt free market capitalism?:

The average price of a previously owned parking spot in residential complexes rose 6.7 percent to HK$640,000 ($82,600) in the third quarter, the second highest on record, from the prior three months, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd. A space in the exclusive Repulse Bay area sold in May for HK$3 million ($387,000), the most for a single transaction and more than double the median U.S. home price, according to CarparkHK.com, a website that tallies parking-spot information.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has unveiled three major sets of curbs on home buying since taking over in July, amid concerns that continued U.S. stimulus would attract more funds into the city and fuel an asset bubble. Apartment prices in the city doubled in almost four years, driven by near record-low interest rates and an influx of money from China.

“There’s just too much liquidity in the market,” said Simon Lo, Hong Kong-based executive director of research and advisory at property broker Colliers International. “The government has set up a firewall for residential properties, but all this money still needs to find a place.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...rom-homes.html

[Mom49of4]

If you have been to Hong Kong you would understand why. Housing is not readily available. It is an amazing place.

[soulflower]

Sounds like a neat city

[Troubadour]

That's a lot of quarters.

[dogstarman]

Parking spaces become quite expensive when they displace other usages and this becomes very acute if it isn't possible to sprawl outward because of geography. HK is one of the most densely populated places on the planet.

[BlandFood]

Sounds like a neat city

It was, houses literally on top of one another, LOTS of good restaurants and nary a dog or cat to be seen anywhere. Yes, a neat place to visit, the QE was a burned hulk laying on her side, probably the most polluted anchorage I've ever seen but it wasn't a place Id want to live and this was many years ago.