A commercial shophouse at 21 New Bridge Road is on the market for $18.5 million. The conservation shophouse is marketed by Huttons Asia, and the sale of the property will be conducted through an expression of interest exercise that closes on Sept 5.

The shophouse sits on a 1,443 sq ft plot with a 5.5m street level frontage. The land lease was topped up to a fresh 99-year tenure that started in December 2021. According to Hutton’s, the shophouse is undergoing additions and alterations which will increase the built-up area to 5,041.8 sq ft.

Based on the new built-up area, the guide price of $18.5 million translates to $3,669 psf. The property also has permission for restaurant use on the ground floor.

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The shophouse at 21 New Bridge Road enjoys prominent pedestrian visibility and is about 100m from Clarke Quay MRT station on the North-East Line. The vicinity also offers several public carpark options. These attributes, coupled with high footfall from nearby offices, support prices and rents in this area, says Jeremy Lim, associate senior group district director of Huttons Asia.

“The doubling in ABSD for foreigners buying residential properties and new control measures on land zoned for commercial and residential use have sent a clear signal to the market,” says Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia. He adds: “Foreign investors are likely to concentrate on commercial properties and commercial zoned shophouses are likely to see more demand in 2H 2023”.