Shophouses are now blazing-hot properties

Old gold: Pedestrians walk past shophouses in Singapore. The properties here are becoming the latest sought-after asset. — Bloomberg

SINGAPORE: Almost a decade ago, Sebestian Soh got the idea to buy a shophouse. He had recently returned to Singapore after going to university in London, and to his eyes shophouses had a kind of magic.

“Everything is new in Singapore except for shophouses, so in a way these are works of art – every shophouse has a different way of expressing itself, a different facade,” Soh said. “These are spaces that we can never recreate.”