Park your car, help the economy.

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Author: Evans, Peter

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You don't always need elaborate spreadsheets tracking the price of pork bellies or the average manufacturing salary in Saskatchewan to gauge how the economy is doing. Sometimes, all you have to do is go for a drive. Since 2000, one of the best ways to track whether office space is more or less in demand has been to monitor downtown parking rates, says Ross Moore, research director with commercial realtor Colliers International, which keeps close tabs on leasing activity in North American office towers. Every year, Colliers publishes the North America CBD Parking Rate Survey, tracking monthly and daily parking rates across the continent. It's considered a good barometer of the economy, Moore says, because increases in monthly rates/mean spots are in demand. Since people, who want monthly parking permits are likely regular office workers, an uptick in monthly demand can signify robust corporate health. And shoppers are the people most likely to buy parking by the day, so a jump in daily demand indicates strong consumer discretionary spending; At least, that's the theory. If parking is any indication, corporate Canada is on solid ground: cubicle-dwellers were willing to pay 3.6% more for monthly parking in 2005 So exorbitant parking rates are good for the economy? Remember that the next time a Toronto attendant demands $26 to park at King and Bay for the day.

It's not just your imagination-it really is getting more and more expensive to park your car for the day in Canada's major urban centres. Between 2003 and 2004, the average daily parking rate in Canada jumped 8%, to $12.08 from $11.19. And in 2005, it inched higher still, up nearly 2%, to $12.31 per day. Once again, Toronto led the way, with rates as high as $26 per day recorded in the downtown core. By way of contrast, some frugal Saskatonians got away with paying as little as $2 to do the same thing last year.

THIS CHART SHOWS THE AVERAGE MONTHLY RATE TO PARK IN AN UNRESERVED SPOT IN SOME OF CANADA'S LARGEST CITIES. FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR, TORONTO WAS THE MOST EXPENSIVE PLACE TO PARK IN 2005, WITH RATES THREE TIMES HIGHER THAN THE CHEAPEST CITY ON OUR LIST

Toronto             $285
Montreal            $247.25
Calgary             $245
Ottawa              $200
CANADA              $170.53
Vancouver           $145
Halifax             $138
Saskatoon           $95

• 15 months The typical wait period for a monthly space in Calgary in 2005

SOURCE: COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS INC.

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By Peter Evans