diff --git a/apps/tests/ui/bindable-tests.ts b/apps/tests/ui/bindable-tests.ts
index cec48c3c7..ee15a6df2 100644
--- a/apps/tests/ui/bindable-tests.ts
+++ b/apps/tests/ui/bindable-tests.ts
@@ -400,7 +400,7 @@ export var test_getBindableOptionsFromStringShortFormatExpression = function ()
     var bindingExpression = "bindProperty * 2";
     var bindOptions = bindingBuilder.getBindingOptions("targetBindProperty", bindingExpression);
 
-    TKUnit.assert(bindOptions.sourceProperty === "bindProperty", "Expected: bindProperty, Actual: " + bindOptions.sourceProperty);
+    TKUnit.assert(bindOptions.sourceProperty === "$value", "Expected: bindProperty, Actual: " + bindOptions.sourceProperty);
     TKUnit.assert(bindOptions.targetProperty === "targetBindProperty", "Expected: targetBindProperty, Actual: " + bindOptions.targetProperty);
     TKUnit.assert(bindOptions.expression === "bindProperty * 2", "Expected: bindProperty * 2, Actual: " + bindOptions.expression);
     TKUnit.assert(bindOptions.twoWay === true, "Expected: true, Actual: " + bindOptions.twoWay);
diff --git a/apps/tests/ui/list-view/list-view-tests.ts b/apps/tests/ui/list-view/list-view-tests.ts
index 3b6db9736..754b4fb23 100644
--- a/apps/tests/ui/list-view/list-view-tests.ts
+++ b/apps/tests/ui/list-view/list-view-tests.ts
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ export function test_bindingToParentObject() {
         listViewModel.set("parentTestProp", expectedValue);
         listView.bindingContext = listViewModel;
         listView.bind({ sourceProperty: "items", targetProperty: "items" });
-        listView.itemTemplate = "<Label id=\"testLabel\" text=\"{{ sourceProperty = $parents[ListView].parentTestProp }}\" />";
+        listView.itemTemplate = "<Label id=\"testLabel\" text=\"{{ $parents[ListView].parentTestProp }}\" />";
 
         TKUnit.wait(ASYNC);
         var firstNativeElementText = getTextFromNativeElementAt(listView, 0);
@@ -586,7 +586,7 @@ export function test_bindingToParentObjectWithSpacesInIndexer() {
         listViewModel.set("parentTestProp", expectedValue);
         listView.bindingContext = listViewModel;
         listView.bind({ sourceProperty: "items", targetProperty: "items" });
-        listView.itemTemplate = "<Label id=\"testLabel\" text=\"{{ sourceProperty = $parents[ ListView ].parentTestProp }}\" />";
+        listView.itemTemplate = "<Label id=\"testLabel\" text=\"{{ $parents[ ListView ].parentTestProp }}\" />";
 
         TKUnit.wait(ASYNC);
         var firstNativeElementText = getTextFromNativeElementAt(listView, 0);
diff --git a/apps/tests/ui/repeater/repeaterItems-bindingToGestures.xml b/apps/tests/ui/repeater/repeaterItems-bindingToGestures.xml
index 667c672a1..addde5ae1 100644
--- a/apps/tests/ui/repeater/repeaterItems-bindingToGestures.xml
+++ b/apps/tests/ui/repeater/repeaterItems-bindingToGestures.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 	<Repeater id="repeater" items="{{ items }}">
 		<Repeater.itemTemplate>
 			<GridLayout width="94" height="94" >
-				<Label text="{{ sourceProperty = $parents['Page'].parentViewProperty }}" tap="{{ tapItem }}" />
+				<Label text="{{ $parents['Page'].parentViewProperty }}" tap="{{ tapItem }}" />
 			</GridLayout>
 		</Repeater.itemTemplate>
 	</Repeater>
diff --git a/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts b/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts
index 5ab1be618..4083ea09d 100644
--- a/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts
+++ b/apps/tests/xml-declaration/xml-declaration-tests.ts
@@ -603,7 +603,7 @@ export function test_parse_ShouldParseNestedListViewInListViewTemplate() {
 }
 
 export function test_parse_ShouldEvaluateEventBindingExpressionInListViewTemplate() {
-    var p = <Page>builder.parse('<Page xmlns="http://www.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"><ListView items="{{ items }}" itemLoading="{{ itemLoading }}"><ListView.itemTemplate><SegmentedBar items="{{ sourceProperty = $parents[\'ListView\'].items }}" selectedIndexChanged="{{ sourceProperty = $parents[\'ListView\'].changed }}" /></ListView.itemTemplate></ListView></Page>');
+    var p = <Page>builder.parse('<Page xmlns="http://www.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"><ListView items="{{ items }}" itemLoading="{{ itemLoading }}"><ListView.itemTemplate><SegmentedBar items="{{ $parents[\'ListView\'].items }}" selectedIndexChanged="{{ $parents[\'ListView\'].changed }}" /></ListView.itemTemplate></ListView></Page>');
 
     function testAction(views: Array<viewModule.View>) {
         var ctrl: segmentedBar.SegmentedBar;
diff --git a/ui/builder/binding-builder.d.ts b/ui/builder/binding-builder.d.ts
index 8917ecc1f..47bd7a67a 100644
--- a/ui/builder/binding-builder.d.ts
+++ b/ui/builder/binding-builder.d.ts
@@ -13,4 +13,6 @@ declare module "ui/builder/binding-builder" {
     }
 
     export function getBindingOptions(name: string, value: string): any;
+
+    export var parentsRegex: RegExp;
 }
diff --git a/ui/builder/binding-builder.ts b/ui/builder/binding-builder.ts
index ee1578d27..8e8afa2b7 100644
--- a/ui/builder/binding-builder.ts
+++ b/ui/builder/binding-builder.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ export module bindingConstants {
 
 var hasEqualSignRegex = /=+/;
 var equalSignComparisionOperatorsRegex = /(==|===|>=|<=|!=|!==)/;
+
+// this regex is used to search for all instaces of '$parents[]' within an expression
+export var parentsRegex = /\$parents\s*\[\s*(['"]*)\w*\1\s*\]/g;
+
 function isNamedParam(value) {
     var equalSignIndex = value.search(hasEqualSignRegex);
     if (equalSignIndex > -1) {
@@ -80,17 +84,6 @@ function parseNamedProperties(parameterList, knownOptions, callback) {
     return result;
 }
 
-function extractPropertyNameFromExpression(expression: string): string {
-    var firstExpressionSymbolIndex = expression.search(expressionSymbolsRegex);
-    if (firstExpressionSymbolIndex > -1) {
-        var sourceProp = expression.substr(0, firstExpressionSymbolIndex).trim();
-        return sourceProp;
-    }
-    else {
-        return expression;
-    }
-}
-
 function getParamsArray(value: string) {
     var result = [];
     var i;
@@ -126,16 +119,37 @@ function getParamsArray(value: string) {
     return result;
 }
 
+function isExpression(expression: string): boolean {
+    if (expression.search(expressionSymbolsRegex) > -1) {
+        var parentsMatches = expression.match(parentsRegex);
+        if (parentsMatches) {
+            var restOfExpression = expression.substr(expression.indexOf(parentsMatches[0]) + parentsMatches[0].length);
+            // no more expression regognition symbols so it is safe for sourceProperty
+            if (!(restOfExpression.search(expressionSymbolsRegex) > -1)) {
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
 export function getBindingOptions(name: string, value: string): any {
     var namedParams = [];
     var params = getParamsArray(value);
     if (!areNamedParams(params)) {
         if (params.length === 1) {
-            namedParams.push(bindingConstants.sourceProperty + " = " + extractPropertyNameFromExpression(params[0].trim()));
-            var expression = params[0].search(expressionSymbolsRegex) > -1 ? params[0].trim() : null;
-            if (expression) {
-                namedParams.push(bindingConstants.expression + " = " + expression);
+            var trimmedValue = params[0].trim();
+            var sourceProp;
+            if (isExpression(trimmedValue)) {
+                sourceProp = bindingConstants.bindingValueKey;
+                namedParams.push(bindingConstants.expression + " = " + trimmedValue);
             }
+            else {
+                sourceProp = trimmedValue;
+            }
+            namedParams.push(bindingConstants.sourceProperty + " = " + sourceProp);
+
             namedParams.push(bindingConstants.twoWay + " = true");
         }
         else {
diff --git a/ui/core/bindable.ts b/ui/core/bindable.ts
index 0c4bc3c30..d388581f1 100644
--- a/ui/core/bindable.ts
+++ b/ui/core/bindable.ts
@@ -26,8 +26,6 @@ var contextKey = "context";
 // from $parents[1] will return 1
 var paramsRegex = /\[\s*(['"])*(\w*)\1\s*\]/;
 
-// this regex is used to search for all instaces of '$parents[]' within an expression
-var parentsRegex = /\$parents\s*\[\s*(['"]*)\w*\1\s*\]/g;
 var bc = bindingBuilder.bindingConstants;
 
 export class Bindable extends dependencyObservable.DependencyObservable implements definition.Bindable {
@@ -424,7 +422,7 @@ export class Binding {
             }
         }
 
-        var parentsArray = expression.match(parentsRegex);
+        var parentsArray = expression.match(bindingBuilder.parentsRegex);
         if (parentsArray) {
             var i;
             for (i = 0; i < parentsArray.length; i++) {