Millionaires eye a piece of Singapore's rich colonial era

The country's remaining 6,500 shophouses are in high demand amongst the ultra-rich.

The ultra-rich are in a buying frenzy for shophouses in Singapore as they crave for a slice of the country's colonial history, with a potential for solid returns.

With only 6,500 shophouses — most of them built between the 1840s and 1960s to serve as a dwelling and retail space in one structure — remaining, they are in high demand.

“Going by the logic of supply and demand, the supply is limited, it is finite, and the demand for it is very high,” Kevin Chia, assistant associate manager at OrangeTee & Tie, said. "So that makes it rare to actually have it, and people are willing to pay good money for that.”

Whilst shophouse sales in the former British colony continued to slow in the first half of 2024 to 40 units worth $354m from 79 units worth $728.9m a year earlier, according to Knight Frank, they remain attractive investments.

“We see a lot of law firms, audit firms, and IT (information technology) firms coming to shophouses to use them as an office… because of the flexibility in terms of operating hours,” said Jeremy Lim, executive group district director at Huttons Asia.