'Please don't knock on our door': Bidadari residents reject property agents' advances despite potential $500k gain
Bidadari resident Darwin's sign for property agents, after the flats in his estate have recently fulfilled their minimum occupation period.
PHOTO: AsiaOne/Ching Shi Jie, the Straits Times file
PUBLISHED ON
OCTOBER 04, 2024 10:22 AM
ByCHING SHI JIE
Bidadari resident Darwin has received one too many property agents knocking on his door in the past year.
To ward them off from disturbing his dinnertime, the 40-year-old IT solutions executive has since put up a sign outside his four-room flat.
"Dear property agents," it said. "Please do not knock on our door. We are not planning to sell our house anytime soon."
Similar signs were seen outside dozens of other units at Block 106A Bidadari Park Drive when AsiaOne dropped by on Thursday (Oct 3).
Darwin and seven other Bidadari residents said that they have been receiving more approaches from property agents after a five-room unit there was sold for $1.2 million last month.
According to Housing Board data, three four-room flats in Bidadari Park Drive were sold in the resale market for between $937,500 and $1.17 million.
The deals were among the first resale transactions from the new estate, where flats in Alkaff Vista - which comprises 199 four-room and 151 five-room flats - recently fulfilled their five-year minimum occupation period (MOP).
Four-room flats in Alkaff Vista had a launch price of between $433,000 and $550,000 while five-room units went for $544,000 to $625,000, reported The Straits Times.
This means that the homeowner who sold his five-room unit in September could have pocketed a cool $575,000 in profit, assuming he paid $625,000 for his unit five years ago.
No to quick profits: Residents
Despite the potential six-figure gain, several Alkaff Vista residents told AsiaOne that they are resisting the temptation to sell their flat for a quick buck.For Darwin, it's a kilometre-away from St Andrew's School, where his two primary school-going children are currently attending.
"I think the person overpaid for the [$1.2 million] flat," said Darwin, who bought his flat for around $500,000 when the housing project was launched in November 2015.
"But we are not looking to sell, the price doesn't matter to us. To each their own."
Another resident, surnamed Tan, said her five-room is "not for sale".
This is due to its convenient location on the city fringe and proximity to amenities such as MRT stations and The Woodleigh Mall, she added.
"The million-dollar sale is news for everyone, but we are not too bothered by it."
Resale prices in Bidadari 'unsurprising'
Speaking to The Straits Times on Sept 26, Sing Tien Foo, provost's chair professor of real estate at NUS Business School, said the resale prices in Bidadari were unsurprising.He pointed out that new flats in other areas on the city fringe, such as Dawson, have also had high transaction prices.
Sing added that the recently transacted prices in Bidadari would prop up resale prices in the area, setting the benchmark for the estate.
A search on PropertyGuru revealed asking prices from between $989,000 and $1.4 million for 27 four-room flats, and one five-room unit for $1.3 million in that estate.
However, Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at property firm OrangeTee Group, advised potential buyers to not assume that a "million-dollar price tag" was the norm for flats in Bidadari.
"The supply of flats is increasing over time, which may limit future price appreciation," she told the Straits Times.
The proportion of million-dollar resale flat transactions accounts for about two per cent of all transactions in the past one-and-a-half years, the Ministry of National Development said in August.
