For ~$1.3m, you could buy this taxidermy-filled house in Minnesota. Or a single parking spot in a luxury building in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong isn’t the only city with pricey parking:
- In 2015, 2 luxury buildings in SoHo had 13 parking spots between them, available for $1m each.
- A tandem spot for 2 cars in Boston’s Back Bay sold for $560k in a 2013 auction.
- In 2016, a spot behind Hyde Park Gardens in London hit the market for £350k ($495.5k, according to the current exchange rate).
But parking habits are changing
A 2018 Deloitte report found that parking in the US generated ~$30B annually, while the average driver spent ~17 hours per year looking for it. In a city like New York? 107 hours.
But Deloitte also predicted a shift in parking habits thanks to ride-sharing, e-bikes and e-scooters, and autonomous vehicles.
To keep up, parking operators will need technology…
… to improve the customer experience and stay versatile.
Example: Get My Parking, a Platform as a Service (PaaS) startup, recently announced $6m in funding to help digitize the parking industry, which includes things like:
- Apps that let drivers find and pre-book parking
- Ticketless entry and exit
- Automated, cash-free payments
- Digital loyalty and subscription programs
- Integration with other services, like EV charging stations
Speaking of places to put cars, check out this car vending machine.
