Garage by O Palsson

Parking rates have been climbing up all over Canada during the last ten years. However, if you like to spend a lot of money on parking, you should not miss out our beloved Toronto. According to an annual survey by Colliers International, Toronto ranked the second most expensive city for parking after Calgary.

Average expenses on parking now reach $336.26 (Calgary reached stunning $453.38 a month); that was $60 less just a year ago. The median monthly parking rate rose 2% to $224.10. Obviously, parking is a great business, even during the toughest recession. When considering daily average rate, we are even at the top with $23 per day.

The reason is simple – demand is constantly growing, especially with the continuing build-up of condos in Toronto, but supply is virtually constant. Unfortunately, this is hardly going to change in the upcoming years. There are only 10 parking garage projects with 1,800 parking spaces announced in the next two year for the whole Canada. Toronto will get a share of around 220 parking spots…

If you would like to enjoy cheaper parking, you should move to Ottawa (average monthly cost $160), Halifax ($158.20), Winnipeg ($152.25) or Saskatoon ($147). The cheapest one of the ranked cities was Kitchener-Waterloo with monthly expenses only $116.94 on average.

On the other hand, Calgary was the only Canadian city, which made it to the global top list. Parking in cities like London ($933), Hong Kong ($744.72) or Tokyo ($654) is only for nobility.

We are trying to help you as much as possible with parking in Toronto – check our section about Toronto parking pads and parking permits. However, it is maybe just about the time to take the development of robust public traffic in GTA seriously.