From CNBC, June 16:
- In a country where land is scarce and public housing can cost up to a million, these two- to three-storey shophouses can cost tens of millions. But investors are hardly put off.
- The shophouse buyers? The likes of Jack Ma’s wife, Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, and Spanish tycoon Ricardo Portabella Peralta, amongst others.
- The appeal of commercial shophouses grew even more when the government rolled out a series of property cooling measures in April last year.
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....
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