Parking Garage Rates Continue to Climb Showing Signs of a Stable Office Market
July 21, 2008
COLUMBIA, SC – July 21, 2008 – Monthly parking rates for garages in Columbia’s Central Business District continued to climb from mid-year 2007 to mid-year 2008. As reports of a slowdown in the national economy continued through the first half of 2008, the Columbia office market remained stable. Office occupancies have maintained rates near cyclical highs, which contributed to the increase in monthly parking rates. The median monthly rate for reserved parking increased by 5.0%, to $105.00 per space, over this twelve-month period, while the median monthly rate for unreserved parking increased by 1.4%, to $68.00 per space.
From 2005 to 2008, the median monthly rate for reserved and unreserved parking increased by16.6% and 4.6%, respectively. The median rate for reserved garage parking continued to increase at a greater rate than unreserved garage parking as owners/operators responded to market demand.
Daily rates, which are more a function of consumer spending, experienced a decline of 6.6% during the twelve months prior to mid-year 2008.
Nationally, the median parking rate averaged $153.79 per month at mid-year 2008, which is a 2.8% increase from mid-year 2007. Daily rates increased by 4.3% over this same period, averaging $15.42 per day at mid-year 2008. The most expensive district in the US at mid-year 2008 was midtown Manhattan with median rate of $585 per month; the least expensive district was Bakersfield, CA with a median rate of $40 per month. On an international level, London was the most expensive city in the world to park a car at mid-year 2008 with a monthly rate of $1,167 (€600).
