SINGAPORE - There will be 8,403 Certificate of Entitlements (COE) available monthly from February to April.

This is a 16.4 per cent increase from the 7,214 available monthly in the last quarter.

Buyers in the small car category (up to 1,600cc and 130bhp) will have 22.5 per cent more COEs available - 4,057 monthly, up from 3,313.

There will also be a significant increase in the Open category, where COEs can be used for any vehicle type but are usually used by luxury car buyers. The monthly quota in this category will increase from by 23.9 per cent from 720, to 892.

COEs available for the luxury car category (above 1,600cc or 130bhp) will also increase by 18 per cent from 2,049 to 2,419 while the motorcycle COE quota will increase by about 9 per cent to 713 monthly.

Dealers had expected a larger quota this quarter given a spike in the number of cars reaching 10 years of age by the end of 2015.

COE quotas factor in deregistration of vehicles as well as the allowable vehicle growth rate.

Commercial vehicle COE prices however are likely to rise in the coming bidding sessions given a sharp decrease in the number of COEs available from next month. The monthly quota for these vehicles have gone down from 481, to 324, a 32.6 per cent decrease.