Garage sells for $500,000 as rich Aussies buy second homes to get parking spots
A one-car garage in Sydney’s Woollahra has sold off-market for a staggering $500,000. That’s more than most cars are worth, along with many Aussie apartments.
Inner-city parking spots can be notoriously difficult to find, particularly in areas like Woollahra, Surry Hills, Potts Point and Paddington. So it’s not hard to see why they can be in hot demand, with the buyer of the Woollahra garage a local themselves who was looking for a place to park an electric vehicle.
The Agency real estate agent Ben Collier told Yahoo Finance garages added a significant amount to the value of properties.
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“Parking adds I would argue a minimum of 10 to 12 per cent of the overall property per space. It’s more on a percentage basis,” Collier said.
“This gentleman would have taken a view that if his property is worth $5 or $6 million, the car park reflects the value add to his house.”
Collier said the Woollahra garage was particularly “rare” because it was on its own separate title meaning it could be sold separately to the property.
“Normally the garage associated to that apartment is on the same title as that apartment. So therefore you can’t split them so you’ve got to buy the apartment,” he said.
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Aussies buy whole apartment for parking spot
Given standalone garages in strata buildings are “unusual”, Collier said he knew of some residents who opted to buy a whole new apartment in order to get a parking space.
“There are two streets that run parallel [in Paddington], Underwood Street and Caledonia Street, and neither of those two streets are known for off-street parking for those residents,” Collier said.
“But in Underwood Street there is a high-rise apartment that goes all the way through from Underwood Street to Caledonia.
“When an apartment comes up for sale in that particular building, more often than not, it’s an immediate resident who buys that apartment, they keep the car space for themselves but they rent out the apartment.”
Most expensive garage sold in Sydney
Collier said the Woollahra garage was the most expensive garage sale he was aware of.
In 2023, several car spaces were sold in Potts Point, with one 18 square metre selling for $315,000 and others hitting the market with values of more than $150,000 each.
Given the small size of the car spaces, Collier also noted that people were simply buying them to park their cars, rather than convert them into places to live.