Whether you’re a resident at an apartment block or just driving into the city for a few hours, it’s notoriously difficult to find parking in Cape Town CBD because developers are exempt from providing parking spaces when building new developments.
Parking provision comes at a financial and land cost, with reduced parking requirements in specific situations intended to stimulate new development and the use of public and non-motorised transport such as walking or cycling, according to Parking Policy for the City of Cape Town Number 17913.
However, everything outside of the city’s CBD has a parking requirement of 1.5 bays per bedroom, with developers sometimes given the opportunity to negotiate this ratio down slightly by, for instance, offering to install bicycle racks instead.
The benefits of limited parking
The major advantage of fewer parking bays is that it promotes walkable cities, which in turn incentivises the surrounding ground floor retailers, coffee shops, and restaurants to level up when it comes to their offerings, said Ashleigh Muller, principal commercial property broker at Ask Ash property brokerage.
“The entire neighbourhood improves due to more individuals walking around these spaces and being forced to walk to these spaces when they need to purchase goods,” she said.
Walkable cities also force individuals to figure out new ways of transportation such as walking, cycling, and public transport, which encourages a healthier, fitter way of living for the individual with the added benefit of less carbon emissions from the use of cars.
More parking also takes away potential land that can be used towards additional housing.
“We have a huge affordable housing issue in South Africa so by increasing parking bays in a development, you are reducing the supply of much-needed housing,” said Muller.
Parking is also a very expensive part of any development, so by having no space that will only be occupied by empty cars, construction costs will decrease and potentially the sale price of the units in the development.
Furthermore, fewer parking spaces decreases traffic in and around the area.
“Hermanus for instance never had parking requirements up until about 5 years ago,” said Muller.
“They had tennis courts in the middle of town which were demolished to accommodate more parking bays, they then built tennis courts on the edge of town – this created more traffic.”
Parking comes at a premium in Cape Town
While there are tangible benefits to limited parking availability, there are also noticeable downsides.
“The cons of less parking are that we have some sad realities in South Africa such as crime in our streets and sometimes walking is not safe, especially at night time,” said Muller.
“Our public transport is also not up to speed. You need reliable, fully-functioning public transport for individuals to get around efficiently if you are going to promote walkable, safe cities.”
Parking requirements may also force away large developments that have the potential to drive investment and job creation to a certain region.
Looking at Hermanus again, Muller said the town’s shopping mall had to be built at the edge of city limits due to its huge parking requirement, which was somewhere in the region of 60% of the property dedicated to parking and 40% to the mall.
In Cape Town’s CBD, parking spaces further come at a much higher premium than in most other major metros in the country.
Office blocks and hotels that have noticed this trend and are leasing out their surplus parking bays on a month-to-month basis to the city’s residents, with prices ranging from R1,200 to R2,500 per month (excl. VAT), in comparison to R600 to R1,000 per month (excl. VAT) in places like Joburg, said Muller.
This hasn’t deterred very many homeowners, however, with high-end developments such as The Valour in De Waterkant offering zero parking bays for its 54 apartments and penthouses but being completely sold out.
Other incoming residences including The Spindle, which has not broken ground yet, will negate the need for on-site parking by offering a full-time chauffeur service whereby a driver will park your car for you in a dedicated parking bay within a neighbouring building, whereas constructions such as Venice House is built close to a nearby parkade that can meet the needs of its occupants.
“It has been fascinating to see these developments launch and sell the majority of their units,” said Muller.
“A huge driving factor for sales could be the demand for short-term rental units in Cape Town as the Mother City is becoming a tourist hub. Cape Town tourism continues to surge which then increases demand.”
This September, the city witnessed international arrivals surpassing pre-covid figures despite being a traditionally low season, encouraging job creation, economic growth, and, of course, property investments.
Keyword: Why parking is impossible to find in Cape Town