COE premium for motorcycles dips after change to bidding process; other COEs are higher

[SINGAPORE] Certificates of entitlement (COE) rose across all categories except for motorcycles on Wednesday (Mar 23), which dipped after new measures were introduced on Mar 14 to moderate premiums.

COE for motorcycles, which saw sustained record highs in recent months, ended slightly lower at $10,501 - a 7.9 per cent drop from the S$11,400 seen at the previous bidding.

For cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp, the COE premium went up by 4.5 per cent from S$68,501 to S$71,556.

COE premiums for cars with larger engines or more horsepower rose by 4.2 per cent from S$94,889 to S$98,889.

The category for goods vehicles and buses increased by 5.3 per cent from S$48,889 to S$51,504.

Open COE, which can be used for any vehicle type except motorcycles but which end up mostly for bigger cars, was more expensive than the previous bid's S$98,890 to end marginally higher at S$99,010.

The bidding exercise on Wednesday is the first since changes were introduced for motorcycle COEs.

Earlier this month, the Land Transport Authority announced that the bid deposit would be raised from S$200 to S$800 and the validity period of COEs halved from six months to three months.

The amount will be forfeited if they are not used within three months and returned to the pool for bidding.

These changes were said to be made to "encourage prudent bidding behaviour". THE STRAITS TIMES