The trend is growing with people around the UK renting out spaces through various on-line agencies. Now a parking space in Brighton has been put on the market for £27,500 and the estate agents in the seaside town are confident the property will sell.
The bay in Lower Rock Gardens is literally an extended pavement with space for one vehicle and was bought by its present owner for £25,000 three years ago. It comes with a collapsing bollard and security patrol. It could also be rented out to nearby hotels for £150 a month, that £1,800 a year.
'Parking in Brighton is abysmal and it is getting worse. This is a secure parking place that is off the road. These kinds of spaces usually attract a lot of interest,' said local estate agent Stephen Simmonds.
Another agent, Phil Hayllor, agreed that it would sell. 'Visitors are paying hundreds of pounds a night for a hotel room and have nowhere to leave their car. It gives an £1,800 annual income which is very healthy. You could spend £180,000 on a flat and only be getting £600 a month back so from a financial sense it is well worth it,' he added.
Indeed renting out a parking space is becoming every more popular. Going rates range from £383 a month in Mayfair to a more modest £76 in Reading, £102 in Edinburgh and £111 in Bristol.
Anthony Sallis, an insurance executive, rents out half of the driveway at his home at Sheldon, Birmingham, close to the M42 and M6 intersection. 'I live about five miles from the airport and have a large drive but only one car. I've registered with several websites that advertise parking,' he explained.
His tenant, a doctor who is training in the Midlands but lives in Dubai, pays £70 a month for the parking space. A monthly parking space at Birmingham airport would cost a minimum of £341.
'My tenant comes and pays me, parks the car and gets a taxi to the airport. It's not a fortune but every little helps these days,' Sallis added.