DEMAND for parking spaces in one of Scotland’s financial hotspots is so great a company boss is selling his double garage for offers over £75,000.
The price – which would buy a three-bedroom house in many areas of the country – reflects daily parking charges in Edinburgh’s west end approaching £30 a day.
Combined with the general lack of parking spaces and the city’s notoriously “efficient” parking wardens, Ewan Foreman should have little difficulty finding a buyer.
The 54-year-old letting agency boss said he had received enquiries just a day after the garage went on sale.
The double garage is in a cobbled lane near to the city’s west end, which is home to many top businesses, and major firms of lawyers and accountants.
Mr Foreman said: “On the market at the moment in Edinburgh there are literally only a handful of garages for sale, they are hard to get a hold of.
“In the West End this could be the only one.
“I’ve owned it for about 10 years. I bought it as an investment. It’s done very well as an investment.”
Mr Foreman, who says he’s hanging on to another west end parking space, continued: “You’re not obliged to value a garage before you market it – you don’t need a Home Report.
“It’s driven by a chronic shortage of garages in the West End of Edinburgh. There is just not enough of them.
“I think it may well be purchased by somebody who wants to put their car in a garage while they are in the office or a local resident.”
In the same city, £75,000 could buy you a two bedroom flat in Muirhouse while in Glasgow it could buy you a one bedroom flat on Bearsden Road.
You could even get a get a three bedroom semi-detached house in Grangemouth or a three bedroom terraced house at the Sound of Kintyre in Campbeltown for the same price.
The particulars state: “It is suitable for two cars and the entrance door of the garage is sufficiently wide to allow both cars to be parked independently.
“The property, which has been well maintained, is of brick and stone construction and has a flat timber roof with a large centre roof light allowing a good degree of natural light.”
Alan Fraser, Director at Investment Property Agency in Edinburgh, said: “The double garage will appeal to businesses that constantly require two parking spaces and prefer to have their own dedicated parking rather than keep having to find unallocated zoned or metered spaces.
“In terms of investment the rental could be in the region of £5,000 per annum so the return is strong and will appeal to a cash buyer looking for a property investment other than residential property.
“I suspect it will generate a good demand as double garages are fewer in number than single garages so the opportunities to buy are fewer.”
