Amsterdam parking spot goes on the market for €495,000

Parking space seems to be just as scarce and in high demand as affordable housing in Amsterdam. A garage parking spot in the Dutch capital was listed for sale on real estate platform Funda for a staggering 495,000 euros. It can also be rented for 750 euros per month, instead.

The real estate site lists over 500 parking spaces for sale in the Netherlands. The one in the garage on the posh P.C. Hooftstraat in Amsterdam takes the cake in terms of price, as was first reported by RTL Nieuws. Additionally, the buyer will have to pay 100 euros per month to the homeowners' association in service costs, and payments for municipal tax and ground rent charged by the city.

The parking spot is located right at the end of the street, where it leads to the entrance to the Vondelpark. This specific space is a larger spot with enough space for a wider car, though the garage clearance remains at a height of 1.92 meters.

A second spot in the garage is available for 250,000 euros, although the narrower space requires a driver to park between a support post and Porsche convertible, photos from the listing showed. It also carries service costs of 100 euros per month, and both city tax and leasehold payments.

According to RTL financial journalist Erik Rezelman, the high prices are partly due to cities’ measures to discourage cars. Municipalities like Amsterdam and Utrecht are scrapping many parking spaces, making them increasingly scarce and, therefore, more valuable.

But 495,000 euros for a parking spot is really crazy, he said about the spot in the Amsterdam parking garage. “A place like that is absolutely not worth half a million euros,” Rezelman said.

Jeel Heule, who is selling the parking spot, disagrees. The neighborhood where the parking lot is located is full of expensive homes and similarly priced cars, he told RTL. “There is no outdoor space, so parking is very difficult in this neighborhood, and there is rarely a parking space available.”

He said homes in the neighborhood start at 1 million euros and go up to 7 million euros, and the owners often drive cars to match. “You wouldn’t want to park a car like that on the street, of course. You want to park it somewhere safe.”

The second most expensive parking spot in the Netherlands is on Heerenstraat in Nieuwegein, listed for 350,000 euros. The third priciest is on Van Bijnkershoeklaan in Utrecht for 300,000 euros.