RARE CBD CAR SPACES NEAR OPERA HOUSE COULD FETCH $2 MILLION
Six ultra-rare car spaces near Circular Quay are set to fetch millions at auction in one of Sydney’s tightest property plays.
2 min
It’s the real estate unicorn of Sydney – an inner city car space. Having a private place to park in the CBD is almost as rare as gold dust, but a current listing is offering a sextuplet of scarce spaces with multimillion-dollar potential.
The unusual sale is for six secure car spaces on a single title at 2 Phillip St, Sydney, adjacent to bustling Circular Quay.
Positioned within metres of the Opera House, Botanic Gardens, Bennelong Apartments and Opera Residences, the parking is also beside a sea of elite harbour front eateries in the popular precinct, including Matt Moran’s Aria, and Peter Gilmore’s Quay as well as Bennelong.
Located under The Quay, a 29-storey residential building beside Circular Quay train station and ferries, the spaces have direct street access and measure a total of 85 sq m on title.
The parking spots will go under the hammer all in one line on May 16 at an on-site auction, which could generate interest of more than $2 million, says listing agent James Cowan, head of NSW investment services at Colliers.
“This is a tightly held and undersupplied asset class in the CBD,” he says.
“Reduced on-street parking, coupled with construction, rezoning, and conversions, has all contributed to a critical shortage of car spaces. This scarcity is expected to drive strong interest during the auction campaign.”
Despite the princely sum, if the spaces meet price expectations, each spot would still cost less than the current record for an individual space in Sydney.
That crown goes to a 30 sq m lock-up garage on Roslyndale Ave in Woollahra. It reportedly sold for a head-turning $500,000 in June of last year to a family that had spent $6 million on a nearby house without an enclosed parking garage.
Other pricey sales include a Notts Avenue, Bondi Beach car space, which was snapped up for $304,700 in January last year, and an undercover single-car park on Onslow Avenue in Elizabeth Bay that fetched $249,000 in February 2019.
Cowan and his co-agent Cameron Colquhoun believe the prime location is behind the already high level of inquiry and conversations with potential buyers, pointing to the $2 million figure.
“The prestige and amenity of the surrounding precinct enhances the appeal to both investors and owner-occupiers,” Colquhoun says.
In addition to the dress circle position beside some of Sydney’s most iconic landmarks and fine dining venues, the spaces are also next to the historic Royal Automobile Club of Australia on Macquarie St, making it a dream destination for car connoisseurs and collectors who want to secure their vehicles in the heart of the city.
Six inner city parking spaces at lot 51, 2 Phillip St, Sydney will go to auction on-site on Friday, May 16 at 10.30am with Colliers.
A record-breaking $11 million sale at The Centennial Collection has set a new benchmark for luxury apartment living in Bondi Junction.
As interest rates, inflation and market sentiment fluctuate, investors are being urged to focus on data, not panic.
Australia’s housing affordability crisis is being fuelled by chronic undersupply, planning delays and rising development costs, as politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.
3 min
Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by first-home buyer incentives or tax changes alone, with leading property figures warning governments must tackle supply constraints if affordability is to improve.
Speaking at the Kanebridge Quarterly Property Leadership Summit in Sydney last week, expert project marketing specialist Sam Elbanna, property investor and fund manager Paul Miron and property consultant Karla McNeice said that a lack of housing supply remained the central issue facing the market.
Elbanna, Director of CPM Realty with more than 30 years’ experience in project sales, argued that successive governments had focused too heavily on stimulating demand rather than addressing the barriers preventing new housing from being delivered.
“The misconception is that politicians think the way to solve the housing crisis is to drive demand,” he said.
“The reality is that’s not the way. This is a supply-side problem, and it needs to be solved on the supply side.”
Drawing on his experience in project sales, Elbanna said policies designed to help first-home buyers often had unintended consequences, pointing to previous grants that ultimately flowed through to higher property prices.
Instead, he said developers were facing increasing red tape, approval delays and rising costs, which were discouraging new housing supply.
“In the absence of stock, demand exceeds supply,” he said.
Miron, a Co-Founder and Fund Manager of Msquared Capital, said the housing debate had become overly focused on tax policy while overlooking broader structural issues.
He argued that affordability challenges stemmed from a combination of factors, including planning constraints, supply shortages, migration levels and interest rates.
“No-one can be 100 per cent certain on the real reason for property prices is going up,” he said.
“The reason why property prices are higher is a combination of interest rates, lack of supply, migration, vacancy rates and maybe taxes play a role.”
Miron was critical of recent federal housing policy changes, warning they could reduce the number of new homes being built and further constrain supply that was even highlighted in the budget.
He also highlighted the importance of the property sector to the broader economy, noting that residential real estate and related industries employed more than one million Australians.
McNeice, who advises developers on sales strategy and market intelligence, said understanding buyers had become increasingly important as affordability pressures intensified.
While affordability remained a major consideration, she said today’s buyers were focused on value rather than simply price.
“People are looking for value for money,” she said.
She said buyers were increasingly evaluating factors such as transport connections, walkability, nearby amenities and flexible living spaces that could accommodate changing family needs.
“What infrastructure is going on? Can I walk to the shops? Can I meet people at the local cafe?” she said.
The panel also discussed the mounting pressures facing developers, with Elbanna arguing that many projects become financially unviable from the moment a site is purchased.
“The viability of a development happens at the moment the site is bought,” he said.
He said rising construction costs, higher interest rates and overly optimistic feasibility assumptions had left some developers exposed as market conditions changed.
While acknowledging the growing number of smaller and first-time developers entering the market, Elbanna said property development required expertise across finance, construction, marketing and legal disciplines.
“It is actually a business that requires a level of expertise,” he said.
Looking ahead, the panel agreed opportunities remained in the market despite current challenges.
Miron said property should continue to be viewed as a long-term investment and cautioned against trying to time short-term market movements.
McNeice said success would increasingly depend on identifying projects that genuinely met changing buyer expectations.
Elbanna said affordable housing remained achievable, but developers needed to deliver more than just homes.
“We can provide affordable housing in this country,” he said.
“But we’ve got to wrap that affordable housing with the things that people want.”
As Australia’s housing affordability debate intensifies, the panellists agreed on one point: without a meaningful increase in housing supply, demand-side measures alone are unlikely to solve the nation’s property challenges.
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