If you've ever looked at a shophouse and thought "that's a different world, not for me," I want to challenge that assumption today. Watching someone build a S$130 million commercial portfolio from scratch in Singapore should make every serious investor stop and ask one question: what do they know that I don't?
Maureen Li, founder of Abiel Property Investment, has quietly assembled a S$130 million portfolio anchored in Singapore shophouses and industrial assets. She relocated here after 2012 and built this from the ground up. That's not luck. That's a deliberate strategy playing out over more than a decade.
Shophouses in prime districts typically trade at S$10,000 to S$15,000 per square foot in today's market. Entry tickets often start above S$5 million, and that's before renovation or repositioning costs. Industrial assets, by contrast, offer gross yields in the range of 4% to 5%, with a lower entry price point depending on the region and tenure.
These two asset classes sit outside the residential cooling measures that have shaped so much of Singapore's property conversation in recent years. There's no Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty equivalent that hits the same way it does for residential purchases. That structural difference matters enormously for investors doing the math on net returns.
In my view, stories like this one don't get enough attention in Singapore's property conversation. Everyone talks about condos in the OCR, RCR, and CCR. Everyone watches HDB resale volumes. But a meaningful shift has been happening in the commercial space, and most retail investors are completely unaware of it.
What I'm seeing on the ground is that savvy investors, particularly those with capital above S$3 million to S$5 million, are increasingly looking past residential to ask where the real yield is. Shophouses offer something that condos simply cannot: scarcity. Conservation shophouses in areas like Chinatown, Tanjong Pagar, and Kampong Glam are a fixed supply. URA isn't creating more of them. That scarcity premium has been building quietly for years.
Here's the thing most people miss: industrial assets, when bought correctly, offer a cash flow story that residential can't match right now. With ABSD cooling measures reducing residential yields and compressing capital appreciation expectations, commercial and industrial assets look increasingly rational. In 25 years I've watched capital rotate like this before. The smart money moves first, then everyone else catches up.
If you're an HDB upgrader, shophouses and industrial assets are probably not your next step. These asset classes demand significant capital and a different risk profile. Your priority should remain understanding the private condo entry points that make sense for your budget and long-term plan. But knowing where larger capital is flowing tells you something about the broader market sentiment right now.
If you're a private condo investor with a maturing portfolio, this is directly relevant to you. You may be sitting on strong capital gains from residential assets bought before the cooling measures tightened. Recycling some of that equity into commercial assets, whether a shophouse or a multi-tenanted industrial unit, could diversify your yield profile meaningfully. You do need to understand TDSR implications, financing limits on commercial properties, and the fact that liquidity in the shophouse market is lower than the condo market. These are not assets you flip quickly. They reward patient holders.
For overseas investors and expats looking at Singapore, the commercial angle is worth a serious conversation. Residential purchases attract ABSD at 60% for foreigners, which is a deal-breaker for most. Commercial and industrial properties operate under a different framework. The barriers are still real but the ABSD equation looks very different. If you're an expat with long-term conviction in Singapore's economy, understanding the shophouse and industrial market is time well spent.
A S$130 million commercial portfolio built on Singapore shophouses and industrial assets is not an accident. It's a thesis about scarcity, yield, and long-term confidence in this city's economic fundamentals. Whether you have S$500,000 or S$5 million to work with, the lesson here is the same: know where capital is moving, understand why, and make sure your own property decisions are aligned with a clear strategy rather than inertia. If you want to talk through what this means for your specific situation, whether you're upgrading, investing, or exploring commercial options for the first time, reach out to me directly on WhatsApp at +65 97501055 or visit keithtanboonkee.com. I'm happy to have a straight conversation about where the real opportunities are right now.
25 years experience · 1,000+ transactions · 4,379 TOP units managed
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