Sales value more than doubled quarter-on-quarter to $193.7 million, driven by a handful of record deals. But only 16 shophouses actually changed hands — and the first half of 2026 was the weakest six months for shophouse volume since 1998.
Singapore's shophouse market booked $193.7 million in sales in Q2 2026 — more than double the previous quarter — but that jump came from just 16 transactions, driven largely by a couple of record-breaking deals rather than broad-based demand. Rentals told the opposite story: leasing volume and rental values both slipped to multi-year lows as F&B and retail tenants stayed cautious. In short, a value recovery without a volume recovery.
Shophouse market activity stayed muted through the second quarter of 2026, with deal count remaining low amid persistent uncertainty and a pricing gap between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are asking. And yet the headline sales figure tells a very different story — total transaction value rebounded sharply, lifted by several unusually high-value deals. According to PropNex Research, analysing URA Realis caveat data, this amounts to a value recovery without a volume recovery — the kind of quarter where the averages look strong, but the underlying activity doesn't quite back it up.
Based on caveats lodged, 16 shophouse transactions were recorded in Q2 2026 — a 14.3% increase from the 14 deals in Q1, but still 11.1% below the 18 deals done in Q2 2025. Because not every transaction has a caveat lodged immediately, the actual figure for the quarter could end up somewhat higher once more records catch up.
What stands out is the value: those 16 deals totalled about $193.7 million, a 115.2% jump from roughly $90 million in Q1, and 52.4% higher than the $127.1 million recorded in Q2 2025. Zoom out to the half-year picture and the softness becomes clearer — 1H 2026 saw just 30 shophouse transactions worth $283.6 million, against 51 deals worth $388.5 million in the second half of 2025. By transaction count, this was the weakest first half for the shophouse market since 1H 1998, when only 21 shophouses changed hands.
Two transactions in particular explain most of the quarter's price strength. The largest was a row of adjoining freehold shophouses at Lorong Liput in District 10, which changed hands for close to $70 million in June 2026. On a land area of 7,542 square feet, that works out to roughly $9,281 per square foot — comfortably above the $7,027 psf achieved along the same road back in February 2025, and the highest price ever recorded for Lorong Liput.
The second was a corner conservation shophouse on Keong Saik Road in District 2, sold for $22 million in May 2026 — a unit price of $17,089 psf on land. That's the highest unit price ever recorded in District 2, breaking the previous record of $15,591 psf set along the same road back in December 2022, though it still sits below the island-wide high of $22,136 psf achieved in District 1 back in 2023.
Why this matters for the averages: With transaction counts this low, a small number of high-value deals can move the overall market price materially — even without a broader shift in demand. PropNex Research notes the overall average shophouse unit price rose 21.3% quarter-on-quarter to $5,694 psf, while Districts 1 and 2 specifically jumped 29.7% to $12,024 psf, largely on the back of the Keong Saik Road transaction alone. These figures should be read as indicative of where trophy assets are trading, not as a definitive read on the whole market.
While sales values grabbed the headline, the leasing market told a much softer story. 745 rental contracts were signed in Q2 2026, down 7.0% from 801 in Q1 — the weakest quarter for shophouse leasing since Q2 2020, when only 584 contracts were inked. The total value of those rental contracts fell 7.4% quarter-on-quarter to $7.7 million, the lowest quarterly figure since Q1 2021's $7.39 million.
Median monthly rental slipped for a second consecutive quarter, edging down 0.5% to $6.40 per square foot. The picture varied by district — District 7 (Middle Road, Golden Mile) saw the steepest decline at 6.4% quarter-on-quarter, while the prime Districts 1 and 2 actually bucked the trend, with rentals climbing 7.6% and 8.3% respectively.
The softness traces back largely to one occupier group: F&B. Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry flagged food & beverage services as the only sector within its broader services cluster to contract in Q2 2026 — and F&B tenants are one of the shophouse market's core occupier types. More cautious consumer spending and ongoing economic uncertainty appear to be prompting some operators to defer expansion plans rather than commit to new leases.
Two structural factors are keeping shophouse fundamentals from looking as weak as the volume numbers alone might suggest. First, Singapore's tourism recovery continues to provide underlying support for retail and F&B demand — the Singapore Tourism Board reported tourism receipts of $8.6 billion in Q1 2026, up 5.8% year-on-year from $8.1 billion in Q1 2025. Second, shophouses remain a genuinely scarce asset class. PropNex Research notes a growing number of shophouses have reportedly come up for sale in recent months — since these assets are typically held tightly by long-term owners, more stock on the market could help unlock pent-up demand from investors who've been waiting for opportunities.
The near-term risk: Renewed tension between the US and Iran — a ceasefire agreed in mid-June collapsed by mid-July, with strikes resuming — has added fresh uncertainty to global financial markets. PropNex Research expects that caution to weigh more on transaction volume than on pricing for the rest of 2026, as buyers extend their due diligence timelines rather than walk away from deals altogether.
The way I read this quarter: don't let the headline sales figure fool you into thinking the whole shophouse market is running hot. What actually happened is that a couple of serious, high-conviction buyers paid record prices for genuinely scarce assets — a corner conservation shophouse in Keong Saik Road, a whole row of freehold units on Lorong Liput. That's targeted demand for trophy assets, not a broad rise across every shophouse in every district.
If you're an owner sitting on a shophouse right now, the leasing softness shouldn't worry you as much as the headlines might suggest — it's tenant-driven (F&B pulling back), not a sign your asset is losing value. If anything, this is a market where distinctive, well-located, or conservation-status shophouses are proving they can still command record prices even when overall activity is quiet. If you're on the buying side and have been waiting for more stock to come onto the market, the signs point to more owners testing the waters in the months ahead — worth having a proper conversation about what's actually coming up, rather than relying on headline numbers alone.
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WhatsApp Bryan → More guides →Source: PropNex Research, "Shophouse Report Q2 2026," based on URA Realis data retrieved 17 July 2026. Figures cited are as reported by PropNex Research and are subject to revision as further caveats are lodged. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or financial advice.
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