Cat A and B COEs dip as number of bids falls

[SINGAPORE] Vehicle certificate of entitlement (COE) premiums were lower in the latest round of bidding which closed on Wednesday, with the exception of the open and motorcycle categories.

The premium for Category A COE (for cars below 1,600cc and 130hp) registered the largest decline of the categories, falling S$2,481 from S$64,841 to S$62,000.

At the same time, the premium for Cat B (for cars above 1,600cc or 130hp) was S$1,020 lower at S$71,990, compared to the S$73,010 it stood at two weeks ago.

The number of bids received for both categories was also lower in this round of bidding. Cat A received 792 bids, down from 813 in the previous round. Cat B saw a more pronounced decline, from 909 bids to 785.

Even so, Cat E (the open category) saw its premium rise slightly from S$74,403 to S$74,801 - an increase of S$398.

After a bit of a run-up this year, the premium for the commercial vehicle segment, Cat C, continued the decline that started this month by slipping S$12 from S$49,901 in the previous round to S$49,889 on Wednesday.

On the motorcycle front, the Cat D premium continued its uphill climb in the latest round of bidding, rising S$51 from S$4,453 to S$4,504.

For the current three-month period running from August to October, the monthly COE quota has been pegged at 3,777.

While this quota is lower than the monthly quota of 4,019 for the May-July period, a large part of the decline actually comes out of the commercial vehicle quota, leaving the quota for Cat A and Cat B vehicles marginally higher in the current three-month period.

Analyse historical COE data with The Business Times' interactive tool at http://btd.sg/coetrack