In a country where land is scarce and public housing can cost up to a million, these two- to three-storey shophouses can cost tens of millions. But investors are hardly put off. The shophouse buyers? The likes of Jack Ma’s wife, Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, and Spanish tycoon Ricardo Portabella Peralta, amongst others. The appeal of commercial shophouses grew even more when the government rolled out a series of property cooling measures in April last year. Row of shophouses in Singapore’s Katong area. Olivier Chouchana | Gamma-rapho | Getty Images
SINGAPORE — The ornate, colorful “shophouses” that line the streets in some old neighborhoods of Singapore are not what immediately comes to mind when people think of the city-state.
In a country where land is scarce and public housing can cost more than a million, these two- or three-story shophouses can cost tens of millions. But investors are still snapping them up.
Shophouses are colonial-era buildings — with some built as early as the 1840s — that are under a government conservation program.
From Jack Ma’s wife to Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan, as well as Spanish tycoon Ricardo Portabella Peralta, the rich and famous are reportedly among the buyers of Singapore’s shophouses.
Renowned Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio was also recently identified as a buyer of two shophouses along Singapore’s Club Street. CNBC could not independently verify this.
The sales volume of shophouses in the first quarter of the year surged 52.2% from the previous quarter to $169.1 million Singapore dollars ($125 million), a report by property consultancy Knight Frank showed. It cited interest from high-net-worth individuals as a key driver of growth.
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