Record price of $78,000 paid for a carpark

Agent Damian Piggin at the carpark he sold for $78,000. Picture / Paul Estcourt

In Auckland, $78,000 is a carpark. In Invercargill it's a home.

That's the price one buyer has paid for a single park in the basement of downtown Auckland's Ascott Metropolis apartment tower - a record according to the agent who sold it.

In Invercargill, about the same amount buys a good-quality home. Asked for his best picks, Tony Jenkins of Harcourts Invercargill sent details of two modern, well-maintained brick three-bedroom houses, one selling for $80,000, the other $85,000.

"It's just outrageous," says Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt of what he sees as Aucklanders' wicked car obsession.

"It just goes to show the problem New Zealand is facing in terms of its population imbalance. If we [in Invercargill] get more than three cars at the lights, it's called a crisis here."

A policy change to encourage migrants to settle outside Auckland would solve the unequal population spread, he said.

Even in the world of carpark peddling, the agent who made the sale finds the price unbelievable.

Damian Piggin of Ray White City Apartments said he thought it was "ludicrous" when in November last year he got $70,000 for a Metropolis parking space.

When he later sold a level-25 unit in the tower, another carpark became available.

"The purchaser just wanted a one-bedroom overlooking the park and the car park was of no interest to him. I then put the word out to a few people and a day later I had an offer for $78,000, which is how much the carpark finished selling for," he said.

The woman who bought the carpark already owned a Metropolis unit, which she rents out. She wanted the park for work, Mr Piggin said.

"People have asked to purchase an apartment with a carpark just to get the carpark and then re-sell the unit," said Mr Piggin. He is now chasing $110,000 for a tandem carpark - two parks end-to-end, locking one vehicle against the wall - in the Quay West apartment block on Albert St.

Mr Piggin reckons he might get $80,000 for a carpark if he took it to auction, a sales technique he said would never have been contemplated a few years ago.

Colliers International agent Roger Seavill said Auckland carparks had drawn such strong interest lately that he had started a website, carparknz.co.nz, for buyers and sellers.

"You can get a 6 per cent yield on carparks, which is better than residential investment," he said.

"I'd rather own a carpark than an apartment."

His price record: $62,000 for a carpark in a Mills Lane building alongside the Quay West apartments.

Mr Seavill said carparks in Sydney sold for more than $100,000.


Take your pick

Invercargill house:
* Harcourts is selling 1 Brooke St for $80,000.
* Buyer will get a 505 sq m fully landscaped corner section.
* Contemporary, three-bedroom house, separate dining, separate lounge.

Auckland carpark:
* Ray White sold the carpark for $78,000.
* The new owner got around 13sq m of concrete basement floor - 5m x 2.5m.
* Valuable inner-city location.

Or you can buy ...
* Giltrap Prestige in Grey Lynn will sell you a new Audi A4 1.8-litre turbo seven-speed sedan with sports seats, sports suspension and enlarged 17" alloy wheels for $77,900.
* For $80,000 the tradeaboat website has a 13.4m sailing boat with eight berths, diesel motor and full sail wardrobe. For around the same sum, Family Boats in Pakuranga would sell an ocean-going custom-fitted hard-topped Surtees, capable of reaching 40 knots.