Here's a rundown of upcoming retail units for sale in Singapore

Better brace for a hefty price tag.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, the government’s White Paper on Population project a potential 30% increase in the population of Singapore by 2030. In the light of this, the analyst takes a look at the upcoming retail units that could be a key beneficiary of increased shopping footprint. 

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

Leaving aside whole shopping malls and large retail spaces that are normally kept in developers’ REIT vehicles to generate recurring income, we focus on new or refurbished neighbourhood malls with units that ordinary investors, aspiring to be retail landlords, can purchase.

Indeed, the dearth of available retail space for sale to the public and absence of cooling measures in this segment make it an extremely attractive and tight market for small developers, namely, Oxley, Aspial and Fragrance Group.

What’s in it for developers? Builders-cum-developers have developed a preference for mixed-use sites. For one, retail units command more attractive returns than the increasingly normalised returns to be had from residential properties.

Moreover, the demand for commercial and retail properties is strong as these two segments have yet to see strong government intervention.

Brace for hefty price tag. However, retail space does not come cheap. Recent transactions of new retail units revealed ASPs as high as SGD5,600psf, far pricier than even some of the high-end residential properties in Singapore.

In our view, the current yields may not be an accurate reflection of the actual yield return on new retail units offered in the market. Investors should also be mindful of the tenure of the property. For example, The Commerze @ Irving is a mixed-used light industrial site with a 60-year leasehold.

What’s in the pipeline? In the table below, we highlight the companies offering retail units for sale at their upcoming developments.