Shophouse prices now over $7,000 psf due to Chinese investors

SINGAPORE: Property portal Edgeprop wrote on (Tuesday) Apr 25, that investors from China had driven the price of conservation shophouses to more than $7,000 per square foot (psf).

“A fresh wave of overseas investors, including those from China… are the ones setting record prices in commercial shophouses in the CBD too,” the piece quoted Mr Loyalle Chin, director at PropNex ShophouseHuat and associate group division director of PropNex Realty, as saying.

A 999-year leasehold, two-storey intermediate conservation shophouse on Amoy Street sold for $21.8 million earlier this month, which translates to $6,998 psf.

Mr Chin brokered the sale of the property just last November for $18.688 million, or $5,999 per square foot, which means its price went up by nearly 17 per cent in a few short months.

The buyer this time is NC Properties, which is said to be linked to Hong Kong’s New Century Group. The company has also invested in Telok Ayer and Circular Road conservation shophouses.

Mr Richard Tan, senior associate group district director at PropNex, is also quoted in the Edgeprop piece as saying that several other shophouses in the CBD and Chinatown have been sold for prices higher than $7,000 psf.

Mr Chin noted that some Chinese citizens planned on turning the Good Class Bungalows they rented at prime locations in Singapore into party houses but have come to realize that they could not do so, as such commercial activities would not be allowed in private residential neighbourhoods.

Hence the desirability of commercial shophouses, which can be used as nightclubs or public entertainment venues when the proper licenses are obtained.

Mr Chin added that the rich Chinese have sought this type of property since “it allows them to hold live shows, entertain friends and even open the venue to the public.” One such property is shophouse on Amoy Street, where Havana KTV Nightclub is presently located. The nightclub’s lease will be up by June. /TISG

Beijing prefers wealthy Chinese to spend their money back home rather than in Singapore