A short and sweet article in The Australian appeared this week regarding the sale of the car park at One Dixon Street, Chinatown by Hyperion Properties to a Singapore buyer. The 93-space car park sold for just over $8 million, which puts it at approximately $80,500 per bay. Interestingly, this same property traded in 2007 for $9.2 million when Hyperion purchased the asset from Singapore’s Lian Huat Group. No further information has been made available to explain the reversal of the typical price trend in car park assets.
Sydney CBD car parks are very tightly held assets that rarely change hands. A 2012 Colliers Report , co-authored by PTC Managing Partner, Cristina Lynn, included only handful of car park sales between 2004 and 2009. If there have been others, it appears that the details have not been disclosed to the public.
The Melbourne CBD market has been much more active, with a number of properties changing hands in the past two years. A Savills UK article from July 2013, “Is the Car Park the New Rolls Royce of Assets?” highlights continued interest in CBD car parks from both local and overseas investors due to “attributes of strong cash flow, low maintenance, zero vacancy and strong capital growth potential.” Market forces are also at play as referenced in our 2012 Blog article – with the increased cost of parking and diminishing number of spaces, the demand for remaining spaces is expected to be strong.
Summary of Melbourne Car Park Sales (2012-2013)
| Property | Bays | Price M$ | $/Bay | Buyer from | Notes |
| 222 Russell Street | 427 |
16.88
|
39,532 | Australia | |
| 300 Flinders Street | 574 | 28.20 | 49,129 | Australia | |
| 250 La Trobe Street | 689 | 29.20 | 42,380 | Australia | |
| 170-190 Russell Street | 409 | 40.00 | 97,800 | Australia | 1 |
| 517-537 Flinders Lane | 118 | 6.00 | 50,847 | Malaysia | |
| 380 Lonsdale Street | 445 | 43.80 | 98,427 | Singapore | 2 |
1 Includes office space, retail outlets
2 Includes office space, retail outlets, and$480M mixed-use development permit