How Important is Parking to Toronto Condo Buyers?

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News

There were a couple of interesting stories in the press yesterday.  The Toronto Star reported on a TD survey that found 71% of condo buyers would not buy a particular condo if it had no parking.  In contrast, the National Post reported that "young condo dwellers are ditching their cars to spend more on the finer things in life"

So which is it?  Are condo buyers still insisting on a parking spot or are they ditching their cars for the finer things.  My personal experience has been that many buyers are more willing to part ways with their cars.  Services like Autoshare and Zipcar have made living car free much easier.

What are your thoughts?  Would parking be a deal breaker for you or your clients?

John Pasalis is a sales associate at Prudential Properties Plus in Toronto and a founder of Realosophy. Email John

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Comments

[Toronto real estate agent]

As working for a Toronto real estate company from experience I would say that for our clients the parking is not a big issue, they are contented as they can get a great deal in buying a condominium. Personally I prefer to leave my car at home and use the public transport no matter how tiring it is. Services what you`ve mentioned are great possibilities as well so I think that the lack of parking space shouldn`t cause trouble, it`s just a minor nuisance which we can ignore and find another solution.

[Toronto land use planner]

"which is it?"

Both.

Young people: Happier not having parking space downtown

Empty nesters: parking critical.

All depends who you ask.

That being said, in one almost ready for occupancy condo downtown that I worked on, after almost all of the units were sold (10 left) they still had 30 parking spaces unsold. Perhaps the other 29% who could do without a space could "do without a space for $25,000".

[Recent purchaser]

I recently bought my first condo. I would consider myself a young professional.

For me, both was the answer.

I bought a place with a parking spot (for resale considerations) but plan to rent it out. Transit plus the occasional autoshare will work out fine for my current needs.

[Kevin McLaughlin]

I am curious if 71% is a big number, or in fact, far less buyers than even 5 or 10 years would consider a condo without a parking space? ie that number suggests a rough "70% parking space ratio", which is low for Toronto - but in fact there are condos being planned now with 60% parking ratio's downtown (especially if aimed at younger people). The biggest problem is that the parking being built - secure, resident-only - will not be easy to rent in the future, because demand for these spaces will come from outside the building from programs like AutoShare. Downtown, car ownership is declining, and will only continue to drop.

Kevin McLaughlin,
President, AutoShare

[maggie -vancouverreflections blog]

in vancouver cars arent as important as they used to be. there are now Zipcars and other companies that lease cars by the day. also, neighbourhoods are more densified. some condo buildings give preferred parking to co-op cars. then there are the cyclers, electric bikes, etc...cheaper mode of transportation.