So you think parking in Makati is expensive?
By Don Gil K. Carreon, BusinessWorld | 06/30/2009 1:48 AM
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MANILA - People complain that parking rates in Makati should be called legalized highway robbery but a global study has found that charges in the central business district are actually among the cheapest in the world.
Colliers International’s 2009 global parking rate study, released yesterday, showed that Makati’s daily and monthly median rates of $2.65 (approximately P128 at P48.30:$1) and $42.40 (P2,048), respectively, are one of the cheapest compared among 21 Asia Pacific cities.
Hong Kong was the most expensive in the region in terms of monthly rates, at $748.20 or P38,138, although in terms of daily cost Tokyo was the highest at $52.50 (P2,536). The Japanese capital was just the fifth most expensive in the Asia Pacific in monthly terms,
Globally the most expensive was Amsterdam with a daily median of $70.77 (P3,418) and London-City’s monthly unreserved median of $1,020.29 (P49,280).
Makati’s rates are only more expensive than Jakarta’s ($27.20 or P1,313 per month, no figures for daily charges) and the daily rates in four Indian business districts: Bangalore ($1.50 or P72), Delhi ($1.28 or P62), Mumbai ($1.07 or P52), and Chennai ($0.96 or P46).
Francine C. Fernandez, an account executive for the magazine Tatler, said she usually shells out P125 per day for a parking space in Makati.
"It’s expensive. In Ortigas [the fee] its almost half that," she said.
While the rate is steep, Ms. Fernandez said she accepts it as "part of working in Makati."
Colliers said that in terms of monthly medians, the most expensive, in descending order, were London-City, London-West End, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Sydney.
In the Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong was on the most expensive followed by Sydney, Brisbane, Tokyo, and Perth.
The study noted that in the United States, few cities had seen a meaningful pullback in parking rates despite a loss of six million jobs and a significantly more challenging business environment.
"Daily and monthly parking rates in the US diverged over the past 12 months (ending June), with daily rates up 1.2% (US$0.18) and monthly rates sliding ever so slightly by 0.9% (US$1.47). The monthly median parking rate now averages US$154.23 in the US," a Colliers statement read.
The firm attributed the relative rate steadiness to a continued imbalance between parking supply and demand.
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