Jackie Chan, Jack Ma’s wife, and other super-rich are buying Singapore’s shophouses

SINGAPORE: Shophouses in Singapore have become the newest hot property across the globe, with many of the world’s wealthiest snapping them up of late, including Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, the wife of Alibaba’s Jack Ma, plus, allegedly, US billionaire Ray Dalio.

A recent Financial Times (FT) article even carried the headline, “Singapore’s shophouses — hotter than Fifth Avenue?” The piece noted that in the city centre, shophouses have fetched prices between S$5,000 and S$6,000 per sq ft.

Some have even reached S$8,000 psf, which FT says can be compared to recent transactions by Prada and Gucci on New York’s Fifth Avenue. No wonder transactions can reach tens of millions of dollars.

The properties, well known for their colourful facades, have seen a remarkable surge in sales. For the first quarter of 2024, sales grew by 52.2 per cent to reach S$169.1 million, CNBC reported on Sunday (June 16), quoting figures from Knight Frank, which said that interest from the ultra-wealthy is helping drive transactions.

Read also: 2-storey shophouse in Kampong Glam on sale for $5.18 million

While there is no lack of luxury brands available in Singapore, these are exactly the companies that are opening inside shophouses, including Coach and Dior and Michelin-starred restaurants.

However, the darker side of shophouse sales is that money launderers have also gotten in on the action, including the infamous Fujian Gang.

FT quotes Savills’ Yap Hui Yee as saying:

“Shophouses were one of the only asset classes whose value continued to rise even during the pandemic,” given that they are rare heritage properties, some of which date back to the 1840s, and are under a conservation program from the government.

There are only 6,000 such properties in Singapore.

In 2021, shophouse sales reached a record high of S$1.9 billion, which continued the following year. And while 2023 saw smaller sales, they were still at pre-Covid levels.

For example, a year ago, six adjoining shophouses on Circular Road were sold for S$80 million to a Chinese buyer. Propanex director Loyalle Chin is quoted in CNBC as saying, “Only the ultra-high-net worth can afford to buy shophouses nowadays.”

“People are looking for a safe haven for wealth preservation,” he added, “And one area that is very attractive in real assets, in Asia Pacific, is conservation assets.” /TISG

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