Shophouses vs. Other Commercial Assets: Why Heritage Still Wins

Discover why Shophouse heritage still wins in commercial real estate. Learn how Shophouse heritage offers scarcity, resilience, and value.

Row of shophouses in Siglap Drive (Image credit: Brian Teo/The Straits Times, 2025)

Commercial real estate investors today have no shortage of options. Offices, strata retail units, and industrial spaces all offer different risk-return profiles. 

Yet despite these choices, shophouses continue to command attention and premium pricing across market cycles.

So what makes shophouses stand apart from other commercial assets? The answer lies not just in numbers, but in scarcity, resilience, and meaning.

Scarcity: A Fixed Supply in a Growing City

Unlike office towers or industrial parks, shophouses are a finite asset. No new heritage shophouses can be built, and conservation guidelines strictly limit alterations to existing stock.

While office and industrial supply can expand with new developments, shophouse inventory remains capped. 

This inherent scarcity gives shophouses a structural advantage in long-term value preservation, especially in land-scarce Singapore.

Rental Resilience Across Cycles

Office rents often move in tandem with corporate expansion and contraction. Industrial demand fluctuates with manufacturing cycles and logistics trends. Strata retail, meanwhile, faces ongoing pressure from e-commerce and changing consumer habits.

Row of shophouses in Kampong Glam (Image credit: Atiqah Mokhtar/EdgeProp, 2025)

Shophouses sit in a unique middle ground. Their flexibility allows them to cater to multiple tenant profiles such as F&B, boutique retail, lifestyle services, offices, and even co-living or wellness concepts. 

This adaptability has helped shophouses maintain rental relevance even during economic slowdowns, when single-use assets struggle.

Prestige and Brand Value

Not all commercial properties carry the same signalling power.

Row of shophouses in Upper Cross Street, Chinatown (Image credit: Kathy Anne Lim / Bloomberg, 2025)

A shophouse address does more than house a business; it communicates identity. For tenants, operating from a heritage building conveys authenticity, craftsmanship, and distinction. For owners, it elevates the asset beyond yield into prestige territory.

This branding effect is something offices and industrial spaces rarely offer, and it’s a key reason shophouses attract lifestyle tenants and premium operators willing to pay for character, not just space.

Cultural Weight and Emotional Value

Commercial assets are usually assessed purely on numbers. Shophouses break that mould.

They represent continuity in a fast-changing city tangible links to Singapore’s trading past, neighbourhood life, and architectural identity. This cultural weight gives shophouses emotional value that resonates with family offices, legacy investors, and buyers seeking more than transactional returns.

In many cases, this emotional connection underpins long-term holding power, reducing speculative churn and supporting price stability.

The Bigger Picture

Offices, industrial units, and strata retail each play an important role in a diversified portfolio. But shophouses occupy a category of their own by combining commercial functionality with heritage, scarcity, and prestige.

They are not simply income-generating assets, but legacy properties that sit at the intersection of culture and capital.

Looking to understand where shophouses fit within your commercial portfolio? The PropNex Shophouse Elites team helps investors compare opportunities across asset classes and identify heritage properties that stand the test of time. Speak with us to explore your options.