Bulgaria's capital city Sofia ranked 13th among European capitals in Colliers International’s parking price descending scale, outpacing Moscow, Madrid and Berlin and followed by Prague, Athens and Budapest.

The survey by the global property consultancy compared average parking fees in the central parts of big cities around the globe as at June 2009.

Sofia was 38th spot in the global chart.

The monthly parking charge in central Sofia (excluding the blue zone) ranges between 100 euro and 200 euro as daily fees start from eight euro and top 12 euro.

In spite of the global economic and financial crisis, parking fees in the cities surveyed had not been reduced, and in some cases had increased.

The lack of sufficient parking places is the main reason for the high prices, said Anton Slavchev, Office and Business Park department manager at Colliers’ Bulgarian unit.

The limited parking space affects office prices as well, he said.

Among European capitals, parking is most expensive in London at 724 euro a month. Amsterdam and Oslo came second and third, respectively, with monthly charges of 572 euro and 339 euro.

The top 10 list includes also Copenhagen, Dublin, Stockholm, Vienna, Helsinki, Paris and Athens.

On a global scale, London and Amsterdam are in the lead, followed by Hong Kong and Sydney with prices of 531 euro and 417 euro. New York is the costliest US city with monthly parking charge of 389 euro. Jakarta and Manila are at the bottom of the table with monthly fees of just 16 euro and 27 euro. Parking is free in some cities, according to the survey.

Source: Dnevnik.bg