diff --git a/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts b/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts
index 283cc308b..4083ea09d 100644
--- a/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts
+++ b/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import view = require("ui/core/view");
 import builder = require("ui/builder");
 import buttonModule = require("ui/button");
 import switchModule = require("ui/switch");
+import searchBarModule = require("ui/search-bar");
 import textFieldModule = require("ui/text-field");
 import gridLayoutModule = require("ui/layouts/grid-layout");
 import absoluteLayoutModule = require("ui/layouts/absolute-layout");
@@ -690,3 +691,17 @@ export function test_parse_NestedRepeaters() {
         helper.goBack();
     }
 }
+
+export function test_searchbar_donotcrash_whentext_isempty() {
+    var p = <Page>builder.parse('<Page><SearchBar text="" hint="Search" /></Page>');
+    var sb = <searchBarModule.SearchBar>p.content;
+
+    TKUnit.assertEqual(sb.text, "");
+};
+
+export function test_searchbar_donotcrash_whentext_isspace() {
+    var p = <Page>builder.parse('<Page><SearchBar text=" " hint="Search" /></Page>');
+    var sb = <searchBarModule.SearchBar>p.content;
+
+    TKUnit.assertEqual(sb.text, " ");
+};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ui/builder/component-builder.ts b/ui/builder/component-builder.ts
index cfb2d9ecc..b44f929da 100644
--- a/ui/builder/component-builder.ts
+++ b/ui/builder/component-builder.ts
@@ -169,14 +169,18 @@ export function setPropertyValue(instance: view.View, instanceModule: Object, ex
             attrHandled = (<any>instance)._applyXmlAttribute(propertyName, propertyValue);
         }
         if (!attrHandled) {
-            // Try to convert value to number.
-            var valueAsNumber = +propertyValue;
-            if (!isNaN(valueAsNumber)) {
-                instance[propertyName] = valueAsNumber;
-            } else if (propertyValue && (propertyValue.toLowerCase() === "true" || propertyValue.toLowerCase() === "false")) {
-                instance[propertyName] = propertyValue.toLowerCase() === "true" ? true : false;
-            } else {
+            if (propertyValue.trim() === "") {
                 instance[propertyName] = propertyValue;
+            } else {
+                // Try to convert value to number.
+                var valueAsNumber = +propertyValue;
+                if (!isNaN(valueAsNumber)) {
+                    instance[propertyName] = valueAsNumber;
+                } else if (propertyValue && (propertyValue.toLowerCase() === "true" || propertyValue.toLowerCase() === "false")) {
+                    instance[propertyName] = propertyValue.toLowerCase() === "true" ? true : false;
+                } else {
+                    instance[propertyName] = propertyValue;
+                }
             }
         }
     }