Parking rates in downtown Vancouver are affordable compared with other major Canadian cities, according to a survey by Colliers International.

The real estate services company examined rates at 87 parking lots in Vancouver's downtown core this month.

Shawna Rogowski, the company's research director in Vancouver, said average monthly rates have increased in the past year to $224, up from $218, but that's still on the low side compared with other major Canadian cities.

"Calgary's at $460 monthly and Toronto's at $305 monthly," she said.

Downtown Calgary had the most expensive monthly parking in Canada, second only to New York, at $500 US downtown, in North America.

Vancouver ranked fifth in Canada, after Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton.

However, Canadian parking rates pale in comparison to those overseas. A monthly parking spot in London costs an average $1,020 US, and $748 US in Hong Kong.

In Vancouver, Rogowski said there's less demand for parking compared with other cities, and she predicted the demand could shrink further after the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"By the 2010 Games, public transit will have improved tremendously in order to accommodate this increased ridership that they're going to be seeing," Rogowski said.

"Once the Olympics are done and people see how easy it is to take these new transportation initiatives that are being introduced, I think more people will be using public transportation as opposed to paying these expensive parking costs."