It was an eye-popping figure, even in the midst of a
property market boom and it turned out to be too good to be
true.
On Saturday, The Straits Times ran an article on HDB rents hitting
a 10-year high.
Citing rental figures from property agencies, ST reported also
listing other transactions in various locations that a 3-room
unit in Block 253 in Jurong East St 24 fetched a monthly rental of
$2,500.
But the figure turned out to be inaccurate, after an alert blogger
did his own investigations and published the findings on his
blog.
Mr Alex Au, who runs the yawningbread.org website, told TODAY that
the unrealistic figure raised his eyebrows, especially since he
lived just a few blocks away from Block 253.
With a digital camera in hand, Mr Au visited the block and found
that it was half-empty.
He asked: "Why would a new tenant pay premium rates when there are
so many unoccupied flats on offer?"
When contacted by TODAY, ERA Singapore, which provided the data on
the Jurong East transaction, acknowledged its mistake.
Its vice-president Eugene Lim said: "It was a transaction in 2005,
but it was actually for two units of 3-room flats that were
combined. Under the data churned out by our computer, it was
classified as a 3-room flat transaction
You can call it human
error or computer error."
Mr Lim added that the "jumbo" flat was rented to a company to house
its foreign workers.
TODAY verified the claim when it visited Block 253.
ST said in a statement that the newspaper had "verified the
accuracy of the information with ERA before going to print".
But after questions were raised over the flat, the paper
investigated further.
"We found that the $2,500 monthly rental was being paid for a
'jumbo' flat in Block 253 which comprised two adjoining 3-room
flats," it said.
Over at Block 510 Woodlands Drive 14 also cited in the ST report
residents said they were "surprised" at the $2,200 monthly rent
that an executive unit at their block fetched.
But Mr P Wang, who bought his four-room unit for $260,000 in
February, felt the high rent was "possible".
The 32-year-old technician said: "It could be a one-off, given the
booming property market."
Earlier, Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan had
expressed his concern over reports of record property prices.
Mr Au agreed that the media had to be "very careful" with
information supplied by third parties, "especially when there might
be a vested interest".
The latest episode goes to show how the mainstream media and the
blogosphere could complement each other in revealing "the truth",
he added. "Working together in a more active media scene benefits
everybody." - TODAY/ra
Shows even more that the newspapers can't be trusted lately.
Especially with the property prices boom, and they publish an
article like that...
Sheesh.
