Singapore’s 'shophouses' are catching the eye of the rich, with some forking out tens of millions

SINGAPORE — The ornate, colorful "shophouses" that line the streets in some old neighborhoods of Singapore are not what immediately comes to mind when people think of the city-state.

In a country where land is scarce and public housing can cost more than a million, these two- or three-story shophouses can cost tens of millions. But investors are still snapping them up.

Shophouses are colonial-era buildings — with some built as early as the 1840s — that are under a government conservation program.

From Jack Ma's wife to Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan, as well as Spanish tycoon Ricardo Portabella Peralta, the rich and famous are reportedly among the buyers of Singapore's shophouses.

Renowned Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio was also recently identified as a buyer of two shophouses along Singapore's Club Street. CNBC could not independently verify this.

The sales volume of shophouses in the first quarter of the year surged 52.2% from the previous quarter to $169.1 million Singapore dollars ($125 million), a report by property consultancy Knight Frank showed. It cited interest from high-net-worth individuals as a key driver of growth.

The priciest commercial shophouses along the streets of Telok Ayer, Boat Quay and Stanley Street can cost over S$5,000 ($3,700) per square foot, said Knight Frank's executive director of capital markets, Mary Sai. That's double that of Manhattan's Upper Fifth Avenue, the world's most expensive retail rental destination.

One of the biggest shophouse deals last year amounted to S$80 million for six adjoining conservation shophouses which was bought by a Chinese investor. 

There have always been pockets of interest in these shophouses as an alternative asset class or collector's item, but particularly so in