Toronto parking is 2nd most expensive in Canada

Calgary and Toronto are the two most expensive cities to park in Canada, according to a real estate survey.

A parking spot in Calgary can run drivers about $473 a month, a 4.2 per cent increase from the same period a year ago, according to a Colliers International report released Wednesday. At this rate, parking in Calgary is more than double the average in Canada at about $236 a month.

The survey found that parking costs in Calgary are only second to New York, making it the second most expensive city to park in North America. Drivers in New York fork over $541 US in midtown and $533 in downtown.

Toronto is the second most expensive city to park in Canada at $332.38 a month.

Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton round out the top five spots, paying about $296, $288 and $275, respectively.

“Toronto has a fairly flexible supply of parking, and due to the law of supply and demand, a number of parking lots actually dropped rates while others stopped offering unreserved spacing resulting in quite a mix of rate changes,” Suzanne Bedford, senior VP with Colliers International Canada, said.

In eight out of the 12 Canadian cities surveyed, drivers are paying more to park per month in the city’s core.

All major cities reported increases in monthly parking rates except for Ottawa and Toronto, where unreserved monthly parking fees dropped by 6.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively. The national average increased by 2.2 per cent in the past year.

However, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., ($128) and Vancouver saw the highest parking rate increase at 9.7 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively.

Still, drivers in Kitchener-Waterloo pay the lowest parking rates in Canada.

No North American city made the top 10 global list this year, the survey said.

Parking rates Canadians pay pale in comparison to what the British dish out at $1,084 a month, making it the most expensive city to park in the world.

The annual survey was conducted in June.