Ravi Chandran
A row of three adjoining 999-year shophouses situated within the heart of Raffles Place Financial District for sale at $28 million
Savills Singapore announced on 14 July that it is offering for sale 82, 83 & 84 Circular Road – a row of three adjoining 999-year shophouses situated within the Central Business District.
Savills Singapore is the exclusive marketing agent for the shophouses in the heart of Raffles Place Financial District.
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82 & 83 Circular Road are both two-storey conservation shophouses, while 84 Circular Road is a three-storey conservation shophouse. The three shophouses sit on a combined land area of 3,611 sq ft and have been amalgamated with an estimated total built-up area of approximately 7,386 sq ft.
Zoned “Commercial” and located within the Boat Quay Historic conservation area, the shophouses enjoy 100 per cent occupancy rate. They come with full concrete flooring, restaurant approvals on the ground floors and office use on the upper levels. Located in parallel to Boat Quay, Circular Road has always been a buzzling hotspot for dinning with constant foot traffic throughout both day and night.
Being in the heart of Raffles Place Financial District, the shophouses enjoy excellent accessibility with Raffles Place MRT Interchange station located merely two minutes’ walk away. It is also located surrounded by major office buildings such as CapitaSpring, UOB Plaza1 and 2, One George Street, OCBC Centre and One Raffles Place.
Ms Yap Hui Yee, Director, Investment Sales & Capital Markets at Savills Singapore, said: “CBD shophouses have always been very well-sought after and have seen stellar growth since Phase 2 reopening in June 2020. 82,83 & 84 Circular Road thus enjoys competitive advantage due to its strategic location within a popular F&B stretch in the CBD that attracts not only lunch crowds but also patrons searching for dinner spot.”
The guide price for the row of three shophouses in the heart of Raffles Place Financial District is $28 million, which translates to approximately $3,790 per square foot on the floor area. Foreigners and companies are eligible to purchase the properties and no Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) or Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) will be imposed.
“Shophouses in the Circular Road / Boat Quay precinct have always been tightly held and extremely rare for a connecting row with excellent visibility frontage, to be available for sale. For contiguous row of adjoining shophouses, it gives the purchaser the flexibility to explore the change of uses potential and such assets are sought after as purchasers can be creative in the restoring of the space by leveraging on the larger floor plates.”
“This is also an excellent opportunity for owner-occupiers such as family offices to acquire a charming flagship property with potential signage right in the heart of Central Business District for their own operations”, Ms. Yap added.
The sale will be conducted through an Expression of Interest exercise which closes on Wednesday, 18 August 2021, at 3pm.
Mr Paul, chief officer at iCompareLoan, said that “although the Covid-19 circuit breaker makes real estate sales more difficult at the moment, the row of three adjoining shophouses is in a good location in the heart of Raffles Place Financial District and is hard to come by.” Mr Ho believes smart investors who are flush with cash, will resort to value hunting instead of choosing residential properties which are still selling at unbelievable prices.
Mr Ho added that given the land scarcity in Singapore, demand for commercial properties in Singapore will continue to rise over the long term. He pointed out that Singapore continues to be a global financial centre and a trade hub with high livability scores – all of which attracts high net worth investors to the Republic. All these factors will inevitably fuel demand for commercial property in Singapore he added.
Mr Ho believes that value buys in the property market right now are are landed inter-terrace houses which’s per square feet price on the built-up area is usually less than $1,000 and commercial properties. But Mr Ho cautioned that the bigger challenge for buyers of commercial property is securing the best commercial loans.
“With the right loan, the buyer can save thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars,” he said. Adding, “which is why they would have to work with established mortgage brokers who can provide them free service.”
Loans
Borrowers for commercial properties are allowed to take a loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of up to 80%, even with outstanding residential mortgages. The maximum loan tenor typically stands at 30 years. However, loans for commercial property tend to command a higher interest rate relative to residential property loans. Like the latter, these loans come in
- Fixed Rate Package
- Variable (Floating) Rate Package
The requirements for a commercial loan, however, are more stringent. For example, the LTV ratio is contingent on whether the property is for owner-occupation or investment, with the latter subjected to stricter criteria by some banks. The next section explains the approval conditions in greater detail.
