Huttons Asia reports that the shophouse market has had a quiet year in 2024, with only 84 recorded transactions. This is below the average of 200 deals per year between 1995 and 2023. Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia, notes that while some buyers did not lodge a caveat, the number of shophouse deals in 2024 is likely the lowest since 1998.
The total value of the 84 caveated transactions in 2024 was $683.6 million, a decrease of 38.9% from the previous year’s $1.1 billion. However, Lee points out that there were significant non-caveated deals for properties on Amoy Street, Neil Road, North Bridge Road, and Telok Ayer Street, estimated to be sold for over $200 million.
The largest shophouse deal in 2024 was Paragon REIT’s sale of The Rail Mall, a strip mall with 43 shop units on Upper Bukit Timah Road, for $78.5 million in June. This broke the previous record of $74.8 million for a row of shophouses on Jalan Sultan in March 2022, according to Lee.
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The Rail Mall shophouses were valued at $62 million in December 2023, resulting in an estimated gain of $16.5 million for the seller. Most of the shophouse deals in 2024 were for smaller amounts, with over half priced between $5 million and $15 million.
Nearly half of the shophouse transactions in 2024 took place in District 8, which Lee attributes to its desirable city-fringe location and lower prices compared to Districts 1 and 2.
In the meantime, shophouse rents across the island fell for the second straight quarter, declining 2.6% q-o-q to $6.47 psf per month in 4Q2024. Despite this, shophouse rents for the entire year were up 1.7%.
Conservation shophouses on Telok Ayer Street are currently for sale at $42 million.