Over 200 homes in Bidadari estate put up 'Do Not Disturb' signs to fend off roving real estate agents

Residents of the Bidadari Housing and Development Board (HDB) estate are trying to fend off roving real estate agents as their flats are in high demand on the resale market.

Do Not Disturb

HDB flats from Alkalff Vista in Bidadari have recently entered the resale market as many of the owner's five-year minimum occupancy periods begin to expire.

This has resulted in four flats being sold for over S$1 million in the past two months, with a fifth being sold for over S$900,000.

Shin Min Daily News reported that residents of the estate have been fending off roving real estate agents.

They complain that agents have been constantly knocking on their doors, asking if they wish to sell their homes.

Shin Min further reported that at least 200 households have put "do not disturb signs" on their doors and that when they visited two of the four blocks on Oct. 6, they estimated that each block had at least 50 to 60 do not disturb signs put up.

Knocking everyday

Residents that Shin Min spoke to said real estate agents have been visiting their homes constantly, knocking on their doors "almost every day" to inquire if they were willing to sell their flats.

However, the residents reported that once they put up the "do not disturb notices", agents largely stopped knocking — but left flyers for them instead.

Some residents have taken to placing boxes on their front gates for agents to leave their flyers, along with notices that say that should the homeowner consider selling their flat, they would contact the agents.

Residents said that agents began to inquire about homeowner's plans to sell their flats as early as a year ago, and as time passed, the frequency of their visits has increased.

Highly desirable fringe

Alkaff Vista initially launched in September 2019, and is located about a five-minute walk from Potong Pasir MRT station, with a second station, Woodleigh MRT, about a 13-minute walk.

It is part of the city fringe area, and as a result considered highly desirable.

Of the five flats that have sold for over S$900,000, four were four-room flats, with the recent S$1.2 million sale being a five-room flat.

HDB flats with very high resale prices "a minority"

While record HDB resale prices frequently appear in headlines, units with very high resale prices make up "a very small proportion of all transactions", said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on Aug. 20.

Such transactions make up only 0.5 per cent of all four-room or smaller flats transacted in the last two years, are very central, and are well served by transport connectivity and comprehensive amenities, he added.

Lee noted that more than half of them are also located on very high floors, above 30 storeys, and have good views.

However, they have caused Singaporeans to be concerned about "the affordability of resale flats as a whole":

"Flat sellers who are reading such news raise their expectations about how much the flat could bring, while flat buyers become anxious to secure flats before prices get higher.

If we are not careful, such market dynamics can cause the resale market to run out of line with economic fundamentals and cause a bubble."

Flats that cross the million-dollar mark make up about 2 per cent of all resale transactions over the last 1.5 years.

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Top image via Shin Min Daily & Google Maps