For $700,000 a family might be able to buy a small apartment in a remote part of Hong Kong—or it could fetch a tycoon a parking space.
A 188-square-foot residential parking lot was sold for HK$5.18 million ($664,250) in May, local newspaper Ming Pao reported (link in Chinese) June 14. That’s $3,533 per square foot, or more than the average price per square foot for a Hong Kong condo, as of October. It also broke the previous Hong Kong record (link in Chinese) of HK$4.8 million ($536,000) for a residential parking space, set last year.
The parking spot price underscored something residents of Hong Kong constantly complain about—its unaffordable property, presently the most expensive in the world.
Ming Pao reported that Kwan Waiming, CEO of Hong Kong-listed company Huarong Investment Stock Corp., which is linked to a Chinese state-owned asset management firm, bought the parking space. The spot is located in Hong Kong’s increasingly trendy Sai Ying Pun area. Kwan has bought two other parking spaces in Hong Kong in the past, for HK$3.78 million ($484,720) and HK$3.98 million ($510, 370), said the newspaper, citing land registration records.
Still, his latest might not actually be the most expensive parking spot in the world, as some reports suggest. Parking spaces costing $1 million have been offered in recent years in Manhattan, for example, at a luxury condo development on Crosby Street in SoHo that went on the market in 2014 at 42 Crosby Street (paywall). It’s not clear, though, how much the parking units sold for eventually—Quartz has put in a comment to the developer and will update if it provides a response. Another development in New York also offered parking units at that price the following year.
In terms of excess, however, a luxury development in Singapore might take the cake. It transports your car to your apartment in a dedicated elevator.