Downtown Calgary ranks as the most expensive city in Canada when it comes to finding a monthly-unreserved parking spot, according to a survey by Colliers International.
With a median monthly rate of US$460, Calgary is second only to New York where it costs US$500 to park in the downtown area and US$550 in midtown.
Calgary is followed by Toronto ($305), which is the second most expensive Canadian city to rent a space by the month, with Montreal ($280), Edmonton ($275) and Vancouver ($224) closing the top five destinations.
The latest rankings are included in a report which says that parking costs have increased nationwide for a sixth consecutive year as owners and operators of parking lots resist the economic downturn, according to Colliers' annual global parking survey.
See related links: The Colliers International survey
Monthly parking rates in Canada increased by $20.00, or 9.9 per cent over 2008 levels.
The average daily parking rate in Canada rose 9.89 per cent over last year to $17.78 daily, with an average monthly parking rate of $222.75, up 9.94 per cent from 2008.
This is in contrast to south of the border where average monthly prices fell just 0.9 per cent.
The Canadian results were indicative of the stability of the Canadian economy when compared to the U.S., said Ian MacCulloch, Vice President of Research, Canada for Colliers International
"The survey results from the U.S. show a decrease in daily and monthly averages which is probably a good indication of some of the challenges their property markets face today," said MacCulloch.
Notable exceptions
All markets surveyed recorded increases in both daily and monthly parking rates.
Notable exceptions were of Montreal -- which recorded a 3.45 per cent reduction in the monthly-unreserved median rate ---, and Vancouver --- which recorded a reduction in the median daily rate of 2.86 per cent.
The largest increase in parking rates was seen in Winnipeg which had a whopping 72 per cent jump in the median rate for monthly car space rental.
Nancy Searchfield, Canadian Leader of Brokerage Sustainability at Colliers and Vice Chair of the Green Building Council of Canada, said the continuing increase in parking costs is yet another call to action for companies to encourage alternative employee transportation options.
"Employee automobile commuting is often a large component of a company's carbon footprint. With the ever-increasing awareness of environmental degradation and the urgent need to address climate change, a key carbon-reduction strategy for employers is to reduce parking and related employee automobile use," commented Searchfield.
"Promoting car pooling and public transit, including subsidizing employee fares, and providing company car-share programs, telecommuting solutions, bike racks, showers and change facilities are all effective ways of reducing car-related carbon impacts, while reducing the costs of providing parking onsite."
Although Canadian cities such as Calgary and Toronto look very expensive, Canadian parking prices still pale in comparison to monthly parking rates in cities such as London (US$1,020), Tokyo (US$525), Sydney (US$588), Hong Kong (US$748) and New York (US$550 Midtown, US$500 Downtown).
