Bedok Residences draws long queue, but most are paid to do so

Three nights before the launch of the Bedok Residences project, many braved the rain and scorching heat to queue. However, according to citizen journalism website Stomp, many were students who said they were being paid to stand in line. Others are property agents, or retirees. The Straits Times reported that the line started forming on Sunday night, with a few hundred already in the queue by 7pm last night. The showflat is located at Bedok South Road near Siglap Community Centre, while the project is centrally sited near the Bedok bus interchange. A CapitaLand spokesman told the paper that each person in the line is assigned a number that entitles him to pick a unit. It is unclear, however, why despite being given the number, potential buyers had to stay in the queue instead of being allowed to return on the day of the launch. The project will be launched tomorrow, with prices expected to be around $1,300 per sq ft (psf) - or $723,000 for a 517-sq ft one bedroom unit. Bedok Residences, a 15-storey project, comprises 583 units of one-, study plus one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units, and penthouses. It will be built above a retail development and is due for completion in 2015.