Would You Pay This Much Money For a Parking Space?
In Hong Kong, a person just set a new property price record and it’s pretty incredible!
According to Marginal Revolution, one person paid $664,300 or HK$5.18 million for an 188-square-foot space. If you do the math, that’s nearly $3,500 per square foot of the space.
The pricey and petite palace per Yahoo, is near “the harbourfront in the west of Hong Kong Island”.
This world record may seem a bit extreme to onlookers, but the price tag has a reason. The expensive parking space is located on the first floor of a luxury apartment complex.
The purchaser of the coveted spot was Kwan Wai-ming. If you are like us, you are probably wondering how he has this much money to blow for his car. Well, he is an executive director of an investment firm.
A Hong Kong parking space is sold for an eye-watering $664,200 in what local reports said was a world record https://t.co/pSNNgJyr61 pic.twitter.com/SNc51MMca4
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) June 14, 2017
Japan has seen insane parking lot purchases like this before. About a month ago, according to Yahoo, a “Hong Kong tycoon paid $3 billion” for a spot near a business and main shopping district. Needless to say, this extreme purchase made it on the list of record property sales in the area.
However, these insane purchase may not always be for the best. In fact, they are actually harming the local businesses near Hong Kong. Due to the extreme purchases, the property value in the area is increasing. Locals as well as other small business are unable to afford the cost of rent or purchasing a home. Bloomberg states that the “higher taxes on home purchases could stimulate investment demand for nonresidential properties, with some buyers shifting to office and parking space.”
A 188 sq foot parking slot in Hong Kong sold for $ 664300 ( Rs 4.3 Crore )
— Nilesh Shah (@NileshShah68) June 14, 2017
There is scope for Mumbai real estate to go up :)
Most of the extreme purchases are coming from wealthy investors and developers in China. They see the dropped housing prices and pounce on the deal. However, it is not all the rich’s fault. Some people believe that the Chinese government is befriending these rich developers. Instead of preventing the problem, they are allowing the issue to grow and making more of the area gentrified.
Sarah is a Hufflepuff living in NYC. When she is not traveling or talking to random animals, she is working as a script writer. Tweet her at @lumpyspacederp
