Do Number of Garage or Parking Spots Affect Home Values?

While my Austin Property Tax Rate Map by Zip Code remains one of the highest ranking pages on this website, a common second has taken root - Do parking spaces or garage spots affect home sale price? Do parking spots or garage spaces affect how long it takes to sell?

Austin City Council's HOME Code Amendments have also re-energized this topic. The HOME initiative will both increase the number of units allowed on a property and (pending approval in Phase II) decrease the minimum lot size in Austin. In both instances, I think in the short term we'll find more cars on the street.

The Data Set

Just as before, I downloaded sold data for single family homes in Central Austin neighborhoods over the last 2 years (from August 14, 2022 to August 15, 2024). This time, I included property south of Lake Austin as well as Allandale since these neighborhoods are all similarly valuable in today's market. A buyer might consider Allandale for its garages over slightly-denser Crestview (or vis versa) even though the sale prices are comparable in both neighborhoods. All together, this data set includes almost 1,600 properties.

Since my previous research in 2018, the Austin MLS changed the way parking is categorized. Today, we're comparing "# Parking" and "Parking Type."

A note (a rant?): My data is only as good as the Realtors who input the data. For example, if the Number of Parking Spots is listed as "0," but the listing agent marked Parking Type as "Carport," then I've categorized the property as "Unknown." Unfortunately, the "Unknown" data points are probably due to listing agent omission or inaccurate input.

Another example of data flaw: One property in the dataset has "6" Parking Spots and "Garage" Parking Type, but we all know there's no 6-car garages in Central Austin! At least none that would publicly be listed on our MLS. More likely this describes a home with a two-to-three-car garage and a long driveway.

Since buyers and agents often filter Auto-Emails and Searches by Parking Type or Number of Parking Spots, I've decided to include this data to show the importance of care and accuracy.

Let's put more weight into data derived from "Parking Spaces" instead of "Parking Type."

One last note: Check out the last column, LP$/LotSqFt (List Price/Lot Sqft). Realtors and consumers usually talk in sold price per sqft ($s/sqft). This works great when you’re comparing interior quality, value and location. Since we're talking about outdoor space here, I decided to use lot sqft instead of house sqft. It's not perfect, but I thought it made more sense.

Does the Number of Parking Spaces Affect How Many Days My House is Listed for Sale?

Yes. Here we're looking at Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM) and active Days on Market (DOM). Houses with two parking spots went into escrow an average of 26 days sooner than zero parking spots - that's almost a whole month!

Does the Number of Parking Spots Affect Sale Price?

Yes. When sorting by final Close Price, the table aligns in almost perfect ascending order with Number of Parking Spaces. One outlier: Properties with two parking spaces sold $15,710 more on average than those with three parking spaces. This suggests that the typical two car spots per household is the sweet spot for most buyers.

No surprise, then, fifty-one percent of the single family homes sold in the last two years had two parking spots. Followed closely by properties with four parking spots, which (in Austin) most likely describes a two-car garage with a long driveway.

While homes with 1+ parking spots were listed for averages over $155/lotsqft, those with zero parking spots listed for an average of $130/lotsqft. This trend is mirrored in Ratio of Closed Price to List Price, where homes with at least 1 parking spot sold around 91% of the original list price. But homes with zero parking spots sold an average of only 86% of the original list price.

Does Parking Type Affect How Long It Takes My House to Sell?

No. In fact, homes with a driveway sold faster on average than homes with a carport or a garage. A property with a driveway will likely go into escrow an average of 16 days sooner than a property with a garage - that's over two weeks!

Does Parking Type Affect Sale Price?

Yes. Sorting by Close Price, properties align (I think) in expected order with "None & Unknown" Parking Type selling at the lowest average price, and properties with a garage selling at the highest average price. Properties with a driveway did not sell for much more than those with a carport. But properties with a garage sold for an average of $237,054 more than those with a carport.

Are you thinking, "Wouldn't properties with garages be larger and, therefore, sell for more?" Let's look at LP$/LotSqFt again. Properties with garages also sell an average of $38/LotSqFt more than those with just a driveway.

Summary

I am surprised! I did not expect the data to show such different results from 2018. When I analyzed sale data in 2018, I didn't come to any major findings, neither from parking spots nor garage type. Today, however, it's clear that single-family-home buyers prefer private parking spots, particularly in the form of a two-car garage.

For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of the zoning changes. I think Austin City Council's HOME initiatives will likely result in more condo subdivided properties instead of smaller single-family-home lots. Either way, if I were a builder or a flipper, this data would suggest I try really hard to get two parking spots per unit, even if it's just tandem driveway parking!