Orchard Road’s Retail Future: Can Singapore’s Premier Shopping Belt Keep Up With Global Rivals?

On paper, Orchard Road is holding up well. Ion Orchard, 50 per cent owned by CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT), was about 98 per cent occupied in FY2025. The mall helped lift tenant sales across CICT’s retail portfolio; they rose 14.9 per cent on a per square foot basis and 29.1 per cent per quantum year on year.

Starhill Global Real Estate Investment Trust’s (Reit) Singapore retail portfolio, which consists of Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City, was 99.5 per cent occupied as at end-December 2025, while tenant sales at Wisma Atria increased 2.9 per cent year on year. At Lendlease Global Commercial Reit’s 313@somerset, occupancy stood at 98.8 per cent as at the end of 2025. Overall shopper traffic and tenant sales were up 6.2 per cent and 1.1 per cent on the year, respectively, in the first half of FY2026.

But Ethan Hsu, chief executive officer of boutique retail consultancy and real estate firm Catbird Singapore, said: “The fundamental challenge is that Orchard Road was built, and is still largely operated, as a shopping street in an era when shopping is no longer a sufficient reason to visit a place.”

Several Orchard area properties have changed hands in the last three years. Others remain on the market after having been put up for sale in the recent past, banking on the promise of a precinct-wide revival. A Strategic Development Incentive scheme is in place to encourage asset owners to rebuild or renew older buildings, offering bonus floor area for “transformative” proposals.

Redevelopment plans have been floated for older buildings including Forum The Shopping Mall, Delfi, and The Centrepoint. Eyes are now on the rebuilding of Tanglin Shopping Centre into a mixed-use development combining retail, office, wellness and cultural uses.

Hong Kong’s Wharf Group has put its Scotts Square mall back on the market for S$380 million, about 15 per cent below the S$450 million guide price sought in 2024. Some 10 parties are said to be interested, including fund-type investors.

The Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) plans include large pop-up spaces along the Orchard Road pedestrian mall between Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City. Other plans include hotel developments at 37 Emerald Hill, the site of a former school, and Seton Close, a cluster of colonial era mansions.

According to the Savills Global Luxury Retail Outlook 2026 report, Singapore ranked 10th globally for new luxury store openings in 2025, down from sixth a year earlier. In Savills’ Global Alpha Cities ranking, Singapore trailed other Asian luxury shopping hubs; Beijing ranked second, Bangkok fourth, Tokyo seventh, Shanghai eighth and Hong Kong ninth.

Within Asia, “cities like Tokyo and Shanghai are much bigger than Singapore, have much bigger populations and market sizes. The availability of space and population of both cities naturally support a bigger luxury retail footprint”, said Sulian Tan-Wijaya, Savills Singapore’s executive director of retail and lifestyle.

According to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report released in April, the number of ultra-high-net-worth (HNW) individuals in Singapore rose 54.5 per cent to 7,171 in 2026 from 4,642 in 2021. But mid-tier and accessible luxury brands are increasingly deploying capital elsewhere, including in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, secondary Chinese cities and the Middle East. Singapore has become a “maintenance market” for these brands, with retailers focusing on refreshing existing stores rather than opening new flagships.

Within Singapore, luxury retail is no longer concentrated solely along Orchard Road, with destinations such as The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands also attracting shoppers. Joan Chen, CBRE Singapore’s head of retail, noted: “Orchard Road loses its exclusive address for brands once they expand islandwide into suburban locations.”

Hsu noted that Orchard Road’s longer-term challenge will be retaining local luxury spending as more HNW migrants choose to live around Marina Bay. “If that happens, Orchard Road loses its quiet but valuable luxury volume on top of the tourist share it has already ceded,” he noted.

Savills noted that 70 per cent of luxury leaders identify experience-led luxury as the defining trend for 2026, followed by wellness-focused luxury. Brands are increasingly investing in larger and more immersive stores, integrated dining concepts and expanded private environments for very important clients. Hsu cautioned that such strengths have become table stakes at the top end of the market.

“Orchard Road can continue to host extremely good mall-format flagships and the top houses will continue to take them, because Singapore is too important a market to skip. But it will struggle to host the most ambitious next-generation concepts unless landlords are willing to redevelop and reimagine portions of their portfolios, and unless the Urban Redevelopment Authority is willing to support more creative reuses of the precinct’s older and smaller assets.”