A Toa Payoh HDB Shop And Shophouse Are Up For Sale At $40M — With Just 44–45 Years Left

A ground-floor HDB shop and a two-storey HDB shophouse in Toa Payoh have been listed on the market for $40 million. The seller is the Lew Foundation, a Singapore-based charity and philanthropic organisation. The properties are located at 190 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh and 178 Toa Payoh Central.

According to Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), the sole marketing agent for the pair of properties, the shop unit and the HDB shophouse are being offered for sale collectively. Thus, the individual price of each unit is not being disclosed.

In total, both properties for sale have a combined gross floor area of 7,384 sq ft, and the asking price works out to an average of $5,417 psf. “This offering combines a sizeable ground-floor commercial asset with a traditional HDB shop, providing investors with immediate income and exposure to two complementary asset types within the heart of Toa Payoh Central,” says Shaun Poh, Executive Director of Capital Markets at C&W.

The property at 190 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh is a commercial unit that has a total gross floor area of 6,039 sq ft. The unit is situated in a prominent location between HDB Hub and Toa Payoh Central. It also enjoys a 22m street-level frontage that faces the busy central pedestrian thoroughfare.

The unit is currently leased to F&B and beauty businesses and has a remaining lease of 45 years. As a commercial property, the sale of this unit is exempt from Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) and Sellers’ Stamp Duty (SSD), and can be purchased by foreigners and corporate entities.

The second property for sale in this portfolio is a two-storey HDB shophouse at 178 Toa Payoh Central. The 1,345 sq ft property features a commercial space on the ground floor and living quarters on the top-floor. The commercial space is currently leased to a medical clinic, and the entire property has 44 years left on its lease.

It is unusual to see a pair of properties in Toa Payoh Central being collectively offered for sale. These units will likely enjoy strong buying interest since they both feature a ground-floor commercial component and are being sold with existing tenancies. They are also close to Toa Payoh MRT station on the North-South line, and this part of Toa Payoh Central enjoys a steady volume of footfall on a daily basis. 

“Large-format HDB commercial units are rarely available for sale in prime Toa Payoh heartland location, particularly properties that can accommodate food and beverage operators, such as the unit at Block 190 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh. Such F&B approval enhances the property’s appeal to a broad range of occupiers and provides greater leasing flexibility for future owners,” says Daphne Poh, Director of Capital Markets at C&W.

Privately-held HDB shophouses don’t come to the market often due to their relative scarcity, with approximately 8,500 of these units in the hands of private owners. This is because HDB stopped selling them to private owners in 1998, and the remaining inventory will shrink as their leases expire.

Toa Payoh is also a highly sought-after commercial location. Toa Payoh Central is home to the HDB head office itself, malls, neighbourhood amenities, and a library. The hub is also served in terms of road connectivity by the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and the Central Expressway (CTE).

Toa Payoh Town Center is one of those modernist nostalgic town properties in Singapore, known for its L-shaped blocks, red archway and dragon playground. It’s also the oldest town fully conceived by HDB in Singapore, built in 1973 at the time to house Singaporeans displaced from overcrowded slums and kampongs.

This area is expected to see a boost in activity with the new Toa Payoh Integrated Development, set to open in 2030. This will introduce a new stadium, sports hall, an aquatic centre, a polyclinic and a library.

Over the last few months, several HDB shops and shophouses have been put up for sale: Four city-fringe parcels that hit the market last week, and another row of three in Telok Blangah in June. But none of those properties came with both ground floor frontage and a location that is directly connected to an MRT station.

Meanwhile, a separate HDB shophouse unit at 178 Toa Payoh Central was also listed last month. That was a 1,345 sq ft unit listed at a guide price of $5.5 million, or about $4,089 per square ft.

The sale of the commercial unit and HDB shop by the Lew Foundation is part of the organisation’s portfolio management objectives by reducing its concentration in commercial real estate, says Yeo Puay Hin, the Executive Director of the Lew Foundation.

He adds that the foundation plans to use the cash from the sale of the properties to fund its initiatives that support vulnerable elderly and provide youths with opportunities for upward social mobility.