CERTIFICATE of entitlement (COE) prices are up across the board, bringing the premiums to above last September's levels when the economic crisis hit.

Spurred by the combination of fewer COEs and a jump in new car sales, COE premiums for cars and commercial vehicles posted double-digit percentage gains at the end of the latest round of bidding yesterday.

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The COE for cars above 1,600cc shot up by 25 per cent to $14,840. In the Open category, the COE price went up to $15,100.

COE prices for motorbikes posted the smallest increase, going up by just 1 per cent to $901.

Of a total of 5,286 COE bids received, 3,516 were successful.

The latest COE prices, though, are still low compared to last year's prices, especially pre-recession levels. COE prices last year had reached a peak in April, when COE premiums for both the Open category and cars above 1,600cc went above $19,000. Average premiums last year ranged from between $15,000 and $17,000.

Motor traders told The Straits Times that they had expected the COE price increases, though the extent of the jumps took some by surprise.

'The market demand is outstripping the supply, so it's quite obvious that the price is going to go up. Market forces are at work, and there is nothing much we can do except live with it,' said Mr Gavin Yeo, commercial director for Borneo Motors.

The COE supply was cut by 24 per cent in April this year in a bid to control the vehicle population in Singapore.

Mr Yeo said COE prices will likely go further up as the next round of bidding is in three weeks' time, allowing more time for orders to accumulate.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.