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UNREASONABLE parking rates? Complain if you’re in Sydney
or Mumbai, since Manila is still among cities in the
Asia-Pacific region offering relatively cheaper daily
parking rates.
This was
shown by a survey of real-estate firm Colliers
International Inc., which released the results
yesterday. But the comparison did not go into a parallel
comparison, however, of the average per capita income of
the countries surveyed to show the more realistic
relative expensiveness of the rates.
The
study showed that median daily rate of parking in Manila
costs just under $4. Sydney has the most expensive
parking rates in the Asia-Pacific region at $54 per day
and $774 per month.
Colliers
said the median unreserved monthly parking rate in
Manila is at $69. In Mumbai, India, it’s $68 a month.
“Daily
rates, which are more a function of the general economy
and consumer spending, have also increased and this
suggests that the sluggish retail environment and higher
gas prices have yet to impact the ability of
parking-garage owners and operators to charge more,”
Colliers said.
The
cheapest daily parking rate in the region is in New
Delhi at $1.75, although that city’s monthly parking
rate at $174 surpasses Manila’s. The second cheapest
rate is in Jakarta at $1.89 and $26 a month.
Ayala
Malls Group vice president Rowena Manhit-Tomeldan said
in a franchise forum last week they don’t earn from car
parks, while Cornelio Mapa of Robinson’s Mall said that
is also the case with them.
Mapa
added that while they charge fees for parking in highly
urbanized areas, they don’t charge parking rates in
provincial malls. “We can’t give free parking to those
who would not patronize us,” he said, but did not
explain what he meant since they also do not give free
parking to those who patronize them.
In its
outlook for 2008, Colliers said growth rates last year
in the office-space market was directly linked to
parking rates and could not be sustained in the long
run.
“Rates
could temper to 10 percent to 15 percent in the course
of 2008,” the company said in its property market
outlook for this year. Colliers said that it sees a
direct correlation between monthly parking rates and the
office real estate market.
As a
matter of curiosity, the priciest parking space in the
world is in London at $1,166 per month or $68 per day
that, at P3,060 is nearly but not quite what 3 minimum
wage earners in Manila would receive a day. |
