According to Huttons Asia, the shophouse market in 2024 has been relatively quiet, recording only 84 caveated transactions. This is below the average of 200 shophouse deals per year between 1995 and 2023.
Senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia, Lee Sze Teck, notes that many buyers did not lodge a caveat, making 2024 potentially the year with the lowest number of shophouse deals since 1998.
The total value of the 84 caveated transactions in 2024 was $683.6 million, a 38.9% decrease from the $1.1 billion recorded in 2023. However, Lee explains that this does not include several significant deals for shophouses on Amoy Street, Neil Road, North Bridge Road, and Telok Ayer Street, which he estimates were sold for over $200 million.
The largest shophouse deal in 2024 was The Rail Mall, a strip mall with 43 shop units on Upper Bukit Timah Road, which was sold by Paragon REIT for $78.5 million in June. Lee remarks that this is likely the biggest shophouse deal on record, surpassing the previous high of $74.8 million paid for a row of shophouses on Jalan Sultan in March 2022.
The shophouses at The Rail Mall were valued at $62 million in December 2023, resulting in an estimated gain of $16.5 million for the seller. Most of the shophouse transactions in 2024 were for lower quantities, with over half valued between $5 million and $15 million.
District 8 saw the highest number of shophouse deals in 2024, possibly due to its attractive location on the city fringe and lower prices compared to Districts 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, shophouse rents in Singapore have decreased for the second consecutive quarter, falling 2.6% quarter-on-quarter to $6.47 psf per month in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, for the entire year, shophouse rents increased by 1.7%.
Conservation shophouses on Telok Ayer Street are currently on sale for $42 million, adding to the selection of shophouses available in the market.