THE HAGUE (AFP) – Housing is at a premium and so is parking in the Netherlands, but a parking space put up for sale this week for almost half-a-million euros – more than the average home price – has raised eyebrows.
Located in PC Hooftstraat next to Amsterdam’s famous Vondelpark, the indoor space was advertised at EUR495,000 (USD528,000) on the Dutch property website funda.nl.
“We are offering a parking space for sale or for rent on the best known and most exclusive shopping street in the Netherlands,” read the advertisement.
The parking space is also a stone’s throw from major attractions like the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum.
Dutch commercial broadcaster RTL Nieuws, which first reported the story, called it “the most expensive parking space in the Netherlands”.
It noted that hundreds of parking spaces were on sale in the Netherlands “but this specific price has… raised eyebrows.”
For those willing to fork out the jaw-dropping amount, the advertisement said the closed-in 18-square-metre space is “well-suited for wider cars” and noted “there’s enough space for the chauffeur and passengers to step out.”
The parking space can also be rented for EUR750 a month.
Estate agent selling the parking space Jeel Heule told RTL he disagreed with those who consider the price to be too high given the lack of other parking available. “For people… in this neighbourhood buying a parking space offers a solution,” Heule said.
The Netherlands, one of Europe’s most densely populated countries with 17.8 million people, is facing an acute housing shortage of some 390,000 homes, according to a recent study.
The average house price was EUR430,000 in the Netherlands last year and someone making the national average wage has been priced out of the Amsterdam market, according to recent studies.
