RESEARCH
WITH Australians currently paying $6 billion in unused apartment parking, experts are calling for planning policy to unbundle parking from residences to reduce housing costs.
According to a new study from RMIT University, which surveyed more than 1,300 apartment residents across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, two-thirds of...
At the same time, 20% of surveyed households has more parking allocated to them than cars owned, with 14% not having enough.
According to Dr Chris De Gruyter, lead research for the study, this imbalance reflects residents not being given the choice in how many car parks they are...
Victoria has a minimum parking provision which means that every one- and two-bedroom apartment is required to have at least one parking spot...
“We found in our study that people living in larger apartments tend to have an oversupply of parking because of this policy...
“This oversupply is not just an inefficient use of space, it is exacerbating housing affordability issues,” added De Gruyter.
Each parking space can be estimated to be worth as much as $100,000, bringing the price of unused parking for residents to more than $6 billion.
“Meanwhile, apartment households with an undersupply of parking are forced to park on the street, competing with visitors in the area,” said De Gruyter.
“It is very clear that there is actually plenty of apartment parking – it’s just allocated incorrectly.”
This research comes as housing becomes increasing unaffordable for many Australians, with SQM Research data recently showing...
De Gruyter and the study are calling for both state and local governments to allow for unbundled parking in planning policy to...
“We can choose the number of bedrooms we want in our homes, yet we have no say in how much parking we need,” added De Gruyter.
“We want people to have the option to choose not to have parking instead of it being imposed on them. Similarly, those who wish to have additional parking can have this.”