Shophouses in Singapore Explained: What They Are, Who Can Buy One and What They Sell For

URA describes shophouses as buildings "Constructed between 1840 and 1960", "two- to three- storeys high, built in contiguous blocks with common party walls"; they "formed the majority of the pre-World War II urban fabric of the old city centre" (URA). Three features define one:

• Mixed use, by design. "Traditionally, shophouses are designed to provide for business premises on the ground floor and residential accommodation on the upper storeys" (same page).
• The five-foot way. The upper floor "projects over the five-footway to form a covered pedestrian arcade", a feature "mandated by Raffles since the first Town Plan for Singapore" (same page).
• Party walls. "Party walls are principal load-bearing walls which demarcate one shophouse from its neighbour" (same page), which is why shophouses come in rows.

URA sorts them into six styles by age: "The Early Shophouse", "The First Transitional Shophouse", "The Late Shophouse", "The Second Transitional Shophouse", "The Art Deco Shophouse" and "The Modern Shophouse" (same page). The land, title and zoning terms used below are in our Singapore property glossary.

A shophouse is a row house built for a shop below and a home above; its zoning, not its looks, decides how it is used today.

URA: "Since 1989 ... conservation status has been conferred to almost 100 conservation areas involving over 7000 buildings throughout the island" (URA), and shophouses "form the bulk of our gazetted conservation buildings" (URA). The first ten areas, gazetted on 7 July 1989, included Chinatown, Little India, Kampong Glam, Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, Cairnhill and Emerald Hill, "with a total of over 3,200 buildings" (URA). No official figure separates shophouses from other conserved buildings, so PropKaki does not publish one.

What the records do show is how seldom they change hands. Shophouse caveats by year:

PropKaki analysis of URA caveats with property type "Shop House", land- and strata-titled. Caveats are voluntary, so some sales are missing.

In the five years from 2021 to 2025, 705 of the 751 caveats were land-titled and 46 strata-titled (a unit within a shophouse). At least 75.5% of the 642 single land-titled shophouse sales were of buildings in URA's conserved-building layer (PropKaki checks each address against the building outlines in URA's Master Plan layer; the check misses some, so this is a floor).

Thousands of shophouses stand; a hundred or so change hands in a quiet year.

Shophouses were built as both, a shop below and a home above (URA); today the answer comes from planning records. Buying a whole shophouse with its land, IRAS goes by "the zoning of the land under the Master Plan (and not the permitted use of the property)" (IRAS):

Sales: PropKaki analysis of 642 single land-titled shophouse sales, by today's Master Plan zoning of the addresses sold, as held in PropKaki's commercial directory (IRAS applies the zoning at the date of purchase).

Buying a unit within a shophouse, IRAS goes by its permitted use instead: whether it is "Residential or for mixed purposes, one of which is residential" (IRAS). To find it, IRAS points buyers to the owner's latest Written Permission and approved plans, or URA's e-service "Enquiry on Approved Use of Premises" (same page).

Two more rules also split residential from commercial, by use. Property tax: "The residential component will be subject to the property tax rates for residential properties while the commercial component will continue to be taxed at 10%" (IRAS). Foreign buyers: "Shophouse (for commercial use)" needs no approval; "Shophouse (for non-commercial use)" and "Commercial & Residential properties" do (SLA). PropKaki's property zoning checker shows an address's Master Plan zoning.

Read the zoning and the approved use before the price: they decide the tax, the buyers and the uses.

Conserved shophouses that change hands are sold between owners and recorded in URA's caveat data (the figures on this page), and their uses and works are controlled by URA's conservation rules (URA).

HDB shops are a separate category. "You can apply for the resale/ transfer of HDB sold shop premises via GoBusiness", and HDB sets its own conditions, among them "You must be 21 years and above at the date of application" and that a person may not own "an HDB flat (subsidised or non-subsidised) within Minimum Occupation Period (“MOP”) plus any HDB shop with Living Quarters (“LQ”)" (HDB). The trade must start "within 2 months from the date of the resale/ transfer completion" (same page).

For tax, an HDB shop with living quarters is partly a home: "For HDB shop with Living Quarters (LQ), the LQ component may be counted as a residential property for Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) purposes" (HDB), and IRAS charges ABSD "only on the apportioned value of the living quarters" (IRAS).

A conserved shophouse is a private building under URA's rules; an HDB shop is HDB's.

SLA's list under the Residential Property Act puts "Shophouse (for commercial use)" and "HDB shophouse" among the properties a foreign person can buy without approval, and "Shophouse (for non-commercial use)" and "Commercial & Residential properties" among those that need it (SLA). The Act's "foreign person" is anyone other than a Singapore citizen, Singapore company, Singapore limited liability partnership or Singapore society (as the Act defines them) (same page). HDB shops add HDB's own conditions (previous section). The full rules for foreigners and companies are in can foreigners buy commercial property or a shophouse.

For ABSD, the residential part decides, and how IRAS finds it depends on what you buy:

• A unit within a shophouse: its permitted use. "HDB shops with living quarters or shophouses with a portion permitted for residential use will be included as a residential property count" (IRAS).
• A whole shophouse with its land: its zoning. IRAS: "Purchase of site with land zoned Residential, Residential with Commercial at first storey, Commercial & Residential, Residential/Institution, or White, falls within the definition of 'Residential Properties'" and "should be included in the buyer's count of residential properties" (same page). Land zoned Commercial is not on that list.

ABSD is then charged on the residential component (the zoning table above), at your rate: 20% for a citizen's second home, and 65% for an entity such as a company (IRAS).

Who may buy a shophouse, and what it costs them in duty, follows the residential part, not the shopfront.

IRAS's rule for mixed property: "ABSD rates, BSD rates and SSD rates for residential properties will apply on the residential component of the property acquired or disposed of. On the other hand, the BSD rates for non-residential properties will apply on the acquisition of the non-residential component of the property" (IRAS).

• Buyer's stamp duty. Non-residential rates run from 1% on the first $180,000 to 5% above $1,500,000: "From 15 Feb 2023, the top marginal rate for residential properties is 6%, and the top marginal rate for non-residential properties is 5%" (IRAS).
• ABSD applies only to a residential part, at the buyer's rate, and that part counts toward the buyer's homes (IRAS).
• Property tax. "Non-residential properties such as commercial and industrial buildings and land are taxed at 10% of the Annual Value"; for a shophouse with two uses, the residential component pays residential rates (IRAS).

How GST applies, and a worked stamp-duty example for commercial property, are in our buying commercial property guide.

Stamp duty follows the use: the shop part is taxed as a shop, the home part as a home.

PropKaki analysis of URA caveats for land-titled shophouses with a sale date from 2021 to 2025. 63 caveats that covered more than one shophouse (for example two neighbouring house numbers sold together) are left out, leaving 642 single shophouses: median $5,550,000, $4,427 per sq ft of land, median land 1,375 sqft.

33.8% of the five years' sales were in 2021, the busiest year, which pulls the five-year median down; the yearly medians since show where prices have sat.

Prices move with location, frontage, zoning and conservation status, so a median is a guide to the market, not a price for any building. For the latest 12 months of shophouse sales alongside offices and shops, see our buying commercial property guide, which counts every shophouse caveat, including the few that cover more than one building; for one recent large deal, our news analysis of Frasers and Cuppage Terrace. Individual sales are in PropKaki's commercial property directory.

With a hundred or so sales a year, every shophouse price is a data point, not a trend.

URA: "If your building is located within the Historic Conservation Areas – Chinatown (Kreta Ayer, Telok Ayer, Bukit Pasoh, Tanjong Pagar), Little India, Kampong Glam, Boat Quay, Blair Plain, Emerald Hill and Cairnhill, you will need to apply for conservation permission before starting business operations", and you can check "the allowable and approved uses for shophouses on URA SPACE" (URA).

• Not allowed in those areas, among others: "New bars, pubs, nightclubs and karaoke lounges New massage establishments and spas Amusement centres Motor vehicle showrooms" (same page).
• Living in one: if you apply to use a shophouse in those areas as a home, URA asks for a "self-sustaining residential layout which comprises a living room, bedrooms, kitchen and toilets" and a signed undertaking that includes "The maximum number of people who can stay on the premises is 6" and "The same people staying on the premises must stay for a minimum of 3 months" (same page).
• Works: "If the change of use involves Additions & Alterations (A&A) works to conserved buildings, please submit a formal A&A submission" (same page). URA's note on adaptive reuse: "Structurally speaking, the original use is always the best use for a conserved building" (URA).

Conservation fixes the building; URA's permission fixes what happens inside it.

PropKaki figures. Sales are URA caveats with property type "Shop House" and a sale date from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025 (751 caveats: 705 land-titled, 46 strata-titled). A caveat whose address lists more than one house number is treated as a sale of several shophouses and left out of the medians (63); an address with an upper unit such as "20,20A" is one shophouse. Medians use the 642 single land-titled sales; $psf is on land area. Tenure shares use caveats that state a tenure. Zoning and the conserved share come from PropKaki's commercial directory, which records each address's Master Plan zoning and checks it against the building outlines in URA's Master Plan conserved-building layer; the check misses some, so the conserved share is a floor. Caveats are voluntary, so some sales are missing. How we work: PropKaki methodology.

Rules. URA, HDB and IRAS's definition of residential property and ABSD pages, read on 26 September 2026; IRAS's other pages on 25 September 2026; SLA on 19 and 25 September 2026. Check the agency before you buy.

What we have not claimed: how many shophouses exist, what any particular shophouse is worth, or its zoning or approved use: check those for the address. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.