Coliving in a Restored Figment Shophouse in Singapore: What It’s Like

April 26, 2022 Stan

Singaporean company Figment restores old shophouses and turns them into boutique coliving spaces.
Two former tenants shared their experience with Insider, where rent is at the market rate for pricey neighborhoods.
Fang Low, the CEO of Figment, hopes to create a Singaporean version of the 15-minute neighborhood through shophouse-living.

When Daniel Lim and his partner sold their house and moved into a coliving space, they weren’t expecting to be the only ones there.

But it was March 2020, and COVID-19 was rearing its head in Singapore and across the world. They watched as the city went into lockdown; no one in, no one out. They found themselves all alone in an empty shophouse that could fit ten people.

The shophouse was spacious and bright, a stone’s throw away from the family-run eateries in the Singaporean neighborhood of Balestier. One day, as he was watching the rain through the skylights, a sense of calmness washed over Lim. He thought to himself, “This is a great place to be trapped in during a pandemic.”

Lim sitting in the Figment shophouse studio he had lived in.

The shophouse Lim was staying in is one of 25 similar homes managed by Singaporean company Figment, which restores old shophouses and turns them into boutique coliving spaces. Fang Low, the founder of Figment, grew up in a shophouse and has grand ambitions for the company.

“As I think about what Figment is doing, it’s really working towards this idea of a 15-minute kampong — a local version of the 15-minute neighborhood,” Low told Insider. It’s the idea that residents have access to almost all the amenities they need within a 15-minute walking or biking distance.

Insider spoke to Low, two former Figment tenants, and a Singapore real-estate agent to find out more about the experience of living in one of Figment’s restored shophouses, as well as how it measures up against other rental apartments and coliving spaces in Singapore.

Fang Low, founder of Figment, standing along the corridor outside one of Figment's shophouses — Low, founder of Figment, standing along the corridor outside one of Figment’s shophouses.

A special space to weather the pandemic in

Figment gets its shophouses in three ways — by buying, renting, or managing them on behalf of the owners. It costs around 6 to 7 million Singapore dollars ($4.4 to $5.1 million) to buy a shophouse, Low said. Renting costs S$9,000 to S$15,000 monthly.

Most of Singapore’s shophouses were built between the 1840s and the 1960s, which means they require extensive renovation before tenants can move in. Figment spends two to three months renovating each shophouse. The company’s goal is to preserve as much of the original architecture as possible.

When it comes to updating each home’s design, the Figment team draws inspiration from the house’s history and its neighborhood. The Balestier shophouse Lim rented, for example, was outfitted in rattan furniture, a nod to the neighborhood’s history in rattan manufacturing.

The exterior of the shophouse where Lim had lived in — The exterior of the shophouse where Lim lived.

“As a creative entrepreneur, one of my top priorities when it comes to choosing a space or buying a house is that the space has to support my work. It has to feel creative, and I think Pegu gave me that space,” Lim said of the shophouse he rented on Pegu Street.

A getaway from the hustle and bustle of life

For Constance Ng, a 26-year-old policy analyst from Singapore, staying in a shophouse felt like entering a new world.

“When I stepped in, it was all white,” she told Insider. “I was greeted by this quote on the wall: ‘I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.’ That caught my eye.”

Constance sitting at a table in the all-white shophouse she stayed in — Ng sitting at a table in the all-white shophouse she stayed in.

The shophouse she stayed in was located in the downtown neighborhood of Tanjong Pagar. Everything in the house, from the walls to the floor and the furniture, was white. Lim said the design of the home was inspired by a blank canvas.

Ng’s stay was short — she had won a three-day staycation giveaway — but the room she stayed in usually rents for S$2,500 ($1,834) a month and includes a queen bed, an ensuite bathroom, and a desk and a chair.

A view of the living room in the all-white Figment shophouse Ng stayed in.

Each house typically has four to five bedrooms, and most bedrooms have an ensuite bathroom. Tenants have access to all common areas, including the kitchen and the living room. Figment runs programs to help housemates get to know each other, but Low said it’s up to each person to decide how involved they want to be in communal house life.

“We don’t do adult-style, dorm living,” Low said. “If they ever wanted to retreat to their studios, they can still do so. So it’s a mature yet communal way of living,” he added.

Priced at or above market rate

Monthly rates for a room in a Figment shophouse range from S$2,000 to S$4,900 ($1,469 – $3,600) with a minimum tenancy period of three months. Tenants have to be at least 21 years old and the maximum occupancy of each room is two people, according to the company’s website.

In comparison to the Singapore rental market, Figment tends to be priced at a comparable-leaning-high price point.

Studio apartment listings in Tanjong Pagar, where Ng rented a room, start at the same price as Figment studios, per Singapore property site PropertyGuru. But in Balestier, the shophouse studio Lim lived in costs S$3,300 ($2,421) a month, significantly higher than the neighborhood’s starting price of S$2,299 ($1,686) a month for a studio apartment. As the first tenant of the home, Lim got a discounted pre-launch price for rent, which he declined to share.

Junese See, a Singapore property agent, said S$3,000 is expensive for a single room in Singapore — especially given that it’s a coliving space.

“If you rent a one-bedroom condo at $3,000, you can have the entire unit to yourself, and location-wise it can already be quite central,” she told Insider.

The upside of living in a Figment shophouse, See said, is that it offers more flexibility in lease length, and that the space comes fully furnished — which is important for those looking for temporary properties.

The interiors of another Figment shophouse located in Geylang — The interiors of a Figment shophouse located in Geylang. The design of the houses are inspired by their history and the neighborhood.

Shifting local attitudes towards renting and coliving

In Singapore, saving to buy a home is a priority. It’s common for Singaporeans to live with their parents until marriage, which is when they become eligible for public housing from the Housing Development Board (HDB).

However, in a trend exacerbated by the pandemic, an increasing number of young Singaporeans are choosing to move out of their parents’ homes, Singapore news site TODAY reported in September.

But even with these shifting attitudes, the vast majority of Figment’s tenants are expats.

“We see 80% expats, mostly in white-collar jobs such as big tech, consulting, or finance, although many have creative pursuits as well,” Low told Insider. “I think with borders opening up, we will see the 80% expat ratio increasing to 85%,” he said.

Figment is far from the only coliving company in Singapore: It’s competing against the likes of Hmlet, Cove, and Lyf. But where Figment stands out is in the types of housing it offers. While Figment which specializes in shophouses, Hmlet and Cove mostly operate out of condos and landed properties, and Lyf has its own dedicated housing facility.

Ultimately, Low wants to showcase the local heritage and build an ever-expanding community of like-minded folk through Figment.

“While we are starting with Singapore, where we’re definitely not ending with Singapore — I think that the opportunity is global,” Low said.

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