Park for Profit

Owning, driving and parking a car in Paris is becoming increasingly more difficult. While most other cities are making way for more traffic, the city of Paris wants to reduce it.

Mayor Bertrand Delanoë made it his policy to pedestrianize Paris and he’s been doing that ever since he landed in office — widening the sidewalks, adding trees and lighting, narrowing the streets, pedestrianizing many (including his new plan to pedestrianize large sections of the expressway along both banks of the Seine) and removing the parking for cars along the city streets. 

This was a smart move. I’ve seen the benefits first hand as I watched rue de Bretagne go from a scruffy little shopping street to the heart of the 3rd arrondissement with a seriously active life at all the cafés and markets, improving the value of our property and our lives.

From my perspective, owning a car in Paris is like having a ball and chain around your ankle, but for many, it’s absolutely necessary…to get to work, to transport their business materials and facilitate their daily activities. There is also that snobbish attitude that ‘certain level’ individuals shouldn’t ‘be seen’ on public transportation contributing to the traffic — sad, but true. What a shame, when we have one of the best public transportation systems in the world!

Nonetheless, owning a parking space in Paris is pure gold. According to the Chambre de Notaires, a parking spot in Paris can cost as much as 46,000€ on the average in the 4th arrondissement with 25,000€ the average price in the city (figures from the end of 2012).

By district, how do the neighborhoods fair?:

Paris 1st n.s.
Paris 2nd 34 500€
Paris 3rd 35,000€
Paris 4th 46,000€
Paris 5th 27,000€
Paris 6th 40,000€
Paris 7th 43,000€
Paris 8th 40,000€
Paris 9th 35,000€
Paris 10th 22,000€
Paris 11th 21,000€
Paris 12th 20,000€
Paris 13th 16,000€
Paris 14th 23,000€
Paris 15th 24,000€
Paris 16th 45,000€
Paris 17th 32,000€
Paris 18th 21,000€
Paris 19th 17,000€
Paris 20th 15,000€

According to French standard “Norme NF P 91-100,” the minimum width of parking spaces ranges from 2.20 to 2.30 meters (7.2–7.5 feet) with the length about double that. This means that a space averages aabout 12.5 square meters, therefore the average cost per square meter is about 20,000€! In Le Marais (4th), count on 36,800€ per precious square meter! With the average per square meter cost of an apartment in Paris of 8,290€ (as of February 2013), this makes parking 2.4 times more expensive than inhabitation!

Meanwhile, parking spaces can be rented — lucrative for the owner and practical for the operator of the vehicle. In Particulier à Particulier, a great source of “for rent by owner” ads, there isn’t a single space advertised in the 4th arrondissement of the 47 in the list! The least expensive is 55€ per month in the 13th, and the most expensive is 290€ in the 11th.

The fractional ownership property “Le Palace des Vosges” rents one garage from the investors that houses storage units for each of the owners, but another one of the garages available to them remains empty. The costs to own and operate the two spaces (valued at 92,000€ if using the city’s averages) is about 1,500€ annually when considering the homeowners association fees, annual property taxes and high cost of maintaining a bank account. Fees to an accountant to file annual tax returns are added to this cost. So, while the rents can cover the carrying costs, the real investment value is in the resale of the unit.

This is true for an apartment that comes with a parking space — it’s a real asset should you be so lucky as to find one to purchase or have one to sell!

Happy Parking.

A bientôt,

Adrian Leeds
Director of The Adrian Leeds Group, LLC

Respond to Adrian:  [email protected]

P.S. Be sure to tune in to House Hunters International on May 16 at 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. ET/PT for the latest episode, “La Vie en Paris, France“! After transferring to Paris for her dream job five years ago, Abby Gordon was ready to purchase an apartment to call her own. We helped her search for the perfect Paris property market to suit her style and budget.

P.P.S. And I’d be greatly appreciate it if someone can record the new House Hunters International episode and send it to me for viewing immediately!! I have no other way of seeing our shows! Thanks!