An Aussie homeowner has built the boldest ‘no‑permit’ parking hack you’ll see this year – a DIY off‑street bay that stops at the kerb – just as car spaces become a six‑figure commodity. It’s clever, it looks legit…and it could still leave you trapped at home.
In Richmond, Victoria, a terrace now boasts a neat parking pad beside the house but the “driveway” ends at the footpath.
There’s no council‑approved crossover, the sloped section that legally connects private land to the road.
Without that point of access, the kerb remains unchanged and anyone can park along it, blocking the exit.
Asked if it counts as a driveway, the City of Yarra told Drive the location has “no legal point of access to the property, so vehicles are able to park there”.
Translation: if someone nabs the spot out front, you’re stuck.
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Is this a driveway?
The quarter-million dollar parking space
While the logistical headaches are obvious, it’s easy to understand why a homeowner would resort to such desperate measures.
Off-street parking isn’t just a convenience; it’s a goldmine in Australia’s red-hot property market.
Real estate sales data consistently shows that a dedicated parking space can add a staggering $50,000 to $100,000 – or even more – to a home’s value.
A 110 sqm Newtown driveway recently sold for $1.25m.
Melbourne buyer’s advocate Cate Bakos highlighted two recent sales in late 2025, just 500 metres apart in the same suburb, with similar floor plans and land sizes.
“The house with the option for carparking on title sold for $280,000 more than the house without the carparking option on title,” Bakos told Drive.
“That equates to a 23 per cent premium.”
A quarter of a million dollars for a parking spot? It’s enough to make anyone consider a DIY solution.
Council red tape and shrinking blocks
The problem, of course, is that obtaining council approval for a driveway crossover can be a lengthy, complex, and often impossible process.
In some heritage areas of Melbourne, for instance, council policy mandates vehicle access from the rear where possible, not the front.
This Balmain block sold for $2,080,000 in October 2025.
Approvals can also be denied if adding a driveway doesn’t result in a “net gain” – meaning if it removes more on-street parking than it provides.
But this Melbourne homeowner’s plight is just one symptom of a much larger, more alarming trend gripping Australia’s property market: the desperate scramble for every last scrap of land.
Sydney’s insane land grab
The situation is even more extreme in Sydney, where “scraps of land” – including driveways, electricity substations, and even tennis courts – are fetching eye-watering prices.
An alarming report by the Housing Industry Association reveals that the average size of new Sydney residential lots has shrunk by 62 square metres since 2015 – roughly the size of a one-bedroom studio apartment.
Meanwhile, the price per square metre has more than doubled, soaring from $1000 to $2019.
Recent sales include a 110 square metre Newtown driveway that sold for a mind-boggling $1.25 million, and a similar lot in Balmain fetching $2.08 million.
Median Lot Prices for land in new estates across all capitals has risen. Source: HIA Residential Land Report
Narrow strips of land housing electricity substations in Lane Cove, Longueville, and Willoughby have commanded between $800,000 and $1.8 million.
KPMG Australia planning and infrastructure economics director Terry Rawnsley summed it up perfectly.
“People are trying to pick every scrap of land they can,” he said.
“You have these driveways, easements or laneways kind of sitting there which people are trying to grab hold of and it’s just kind of reinforcing that there’s a scarcity of developable land in Sydney.”
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