Car Park by Steven Lilley

Colliers International has been publishing its survey of parking costs for a decade now. Latest results proved parking business is completely recession proof, at least in Canada.

Average monthly parking expenses climbed all over the country. Calgary is at the top with monthly average $453.38, followed by Toronto ($336.25), Montreal ($280.60) and Edmonton ($275). Vancouver placed 5th; our drivers spend $266.81 on average in June to park their cars. If you want it cheaper, you should probably move to Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario), where you would spend only $116.94.

Prices are driven up by inexhaustible demand, which is fuelled not only by population and motorization growth, but also by new condo developments in some of the cities. The most expensive city, Calgary, deliberately decided to keep as many cars out of the city as possible – as Kirk Kuester, Vancouver managing director for Colliers International, said: "When a building is constructed in Calgary, there's a requirement that far less parking has to be built."

Recent tripling of the provincial sales tax on parking caused the average rate to go up 19.1% since the last year, parking spots supply in Vancouver are still able to meet the demand, with some extended potential in the downtown peninsula.

Vancouver ranked the 44th most expensive city for parking globally. The first place is occupied by London with stunning $987.20 per month to park, followed by Hong Kong ($744.72) and Tokyo ($654).