A Pretty Penny to Park

A new report by Russian state media outlet Izvestia reveals that prices on parking spaces are outpacing the prices on apartments.

Over the last year, apartment prices have risen 7-9%, while parking spaces have shot up 20%. New buyers of Russian apartments can expect their parking spaces to cost as much as one-sixth of their rent: on average, a million rubles, or $12,903, per year. Some large spots for nicer apartments in luxurious areas can go for as much as R25 million, or more than $322,000, a year.

Izvestia journalists write that several economic factors are at play that have caused a parking shortage. While there are laws and regulations that require a certain number of parking spots to be included when buildings are built, oftentimes not all spots are sold. Many residents choose not to purchase an expensive lot on top of an expensive apartment, so open spots are a pure loss to developers. To recoup, they raise prices on spots that are likely to be purchased, creating a vicious cycle.

Some context is helpful. In car-friendly America, the number of parking spaces per household can vary widely. Des Moines, Iowa, has a whopping 20 parking spaces per household. In urban public transit haven New York, there are a mere 0.6 parking spaces her household. On average, there about 1.1 parking spaces are added with each new residential construction in the U.S.

In Russia, even smaller cities sit at 0.39 spaces per household, while larger cities have only 0.33. New apartment blocks often have only between 0.2 or 0.3 spaces per apartment. Hence why some Russian banks even offer loans to help customers pay for parking spots.

All of this against a backdrop of economic uncertainty and a grinding war economy.