SINGAPORE - Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums rose for all categories on Wednesday (Feb 9), at the first bidding exercise under the new reduced quota.
Premiums for small cars up to 1,600cc and 130hp hit $60,761, a 4.9 per cent increase from the last tender. Premiums for this category last breached $60,000 in June 2015.
In percentage terms, the biggest mover was the category for bigger cars, with a 5 per cent increase to end at $86,102.
The COE premium for the Open category rose by 3.7 per cent to $87,000.
Motor traders said they expected the rise, given that it has been three weeks since the last bidding. This means there was more time for traders to accumulate orders.
Other than a few exceptions, COE tenders are typically held two weeks apart.
The number of COEs available for bidding is updated every three months. The figure is driven mainly by the number of vehicles that are deregistered.
The total quota for the February to April period is 10,452 COEs spread across five categories. It is 1.3 per cent lower than the November to January period.
The overall drop in the quota was one factor that could explain the rise in COE prices, said Mr David Shui, general manager for sales and product at Mazda.
Mr Nicholas Wong, general manager of Kah Motors, said he was anticipating the COE premium for cars above 1,600cc and 130hp to soften in this round of bidding.
There are now more Open category COEs available than in the previous three-month period. While this type of COE can be used for all vehicle types except for motorcycles, they tend to be used for larger cars.
“When you add the quota for the two categories together, there are actually more COEs for the larger cars than before, and yet premiums for Open and large cars went up,” said Mr Wong.
Looking ahead, he said he expects the COE Open category to soften but not by much, given that the supply of COEs overall is still low.
Commercial vehicle COEs also nudged upwards by 2.3 per cent, hitting $44,001.
Motorcycle COEs, which hit a record high of $10,000 in the last bidding exercise, rose by $10 on Wednesday.
