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Every day there are fewer places to park in the streets of big cities, and there seems to be nothing that anybody can do about it. However much support municipal authorities give to public transport, the number of cars in Spain grows by more than 5 % every year. This means that cities have been too small for some time. Traffic jams form part of daily city life and cars are getting better and better, so their owners prefer to pay for the peace of mind that a garage space can give them.

All this leads us to the following conclusion: to have a garage space is no longer a question of convenience but rather it has become a necessity of the first order. That is to say, either you park your car in a rented or bought space or you need to arm yourself with the patience needed to find a parking place on the street every time you get behind the wheel.

From the point of view of investment, the purchase of a garage space produces a higher return than that currently given by fixed deposits, variable deposits, and investment funds. Analysts say that the average return you can expect is between 5 and 10%, depending on the zone. In Madrid, according to data from Tecnigrama, the average appreciation of a garage space was around 8% in the year 1999-2000.

After a period in which cities built a huge number of garages for residents� parking, prices bottomed out in 1998, but now this investment option is beginning to look like an interesting bet again. In almost all the cities around the country, the price of a garage space is directly related to the supply of places and the number of new homes built.

We are talking about a real estate investment (with all the advantages that this implies) with a low unit cost: between 2.8 million pesetas (about 15,000 USD) in Barcelona and 1.78 million in Bilbao. On average the purchase of a garage space in the center of Madrid or Valencia could cost some 2 million pesetas (10,500 USD), as against 2.36 million in Zaragoza or 2.1 million in Seville.

It is also very cheap to maintain a garage space , and they are relatively easy to rent out too, at between 8,000 pesetas a month for a space costing 2.5 million pesetas to 25,000 pesetas for one of five million pesetas.

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COMPARISON OF PUBLIC PARKING LOTS IN THE MAIN CITIES
Madrid. Hell on earth for drivers. It takes an average of 13 minutes to park, whether on weekdays or holidays. Public parking lots cost about 250 pesetas (1.32 USD) an hour. Tow truck charges (if the police tow away your car) are among the highest in Spain at 19,760 pesetas.
Barcelona. You have to allow 8 minutes to park your car properly. The worst thing about the capital of Catalonia is that each hour in a public parking lot costs 250 pesetas. Tow truck charges are as high as 17,725 pesetas
Bilbao. Midweek you need about 7.5 minutes to park while on weekends you can halve that time. The average price of car parks is 145 pesetas an hour. The ticket if you are towed away is 11,260 pesetas.
Valencia. Parking will take you between 10 and 11 minutes, depending on whether it�s a weekday or holiday. Parking lots cost 222 pesetas an hour though there are cheaper zones at 80 pesetas/hour. Tow truck charges are 17,600 pesetas.
Alicante. You need to arm yourself with patience to park in Alicante�s downtown.: 22 minutes on a weekday and 16 at weekends. The only consolation is that parking charges are not expensive: 135 pesetas per hour in a parking lot and 70 pesetas an hour in "blue zones" (controlled on-street parking).
Malaga. You need patience to park in the capital of the Costa del Sol: 7.5 minutes, although it�s easier at the weekend. There are few parking lot spaces and they are expensive in comparison with the rest of the country: 195 pesetas per hour. The tow truck will cost you 12,800 pesetas.
Logro�o. It takes an average of 3.5 minutes to park a car and it costs 90 pesetas an hour in a public parking lot. Tow truck charges are 5,905 pesetas.
Santander. It takes an average of nearly 6 and a half minutes to park. Parking lots are relatively cheap (147 pesetas an hour) while controlled zone parking costs 90 pesetas. Santander is one of the few cities in Spain which doesn�t charge you to get your car back if it has been towed away.
Pamplona. It takes the same time as in Santander, 6 and a half minutes, though at weekends it can take longer. The cost of parking is 100 pesetas per hour.