All COE premiums fall
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums fell across the board today (June 17), with small cars registering the greatest drop.
In the fourth bidding exercise, featuring a bumper crop of COEs for the May to July period, COE prices for small cars in Category A (up to 1,600cc and 97kW) fell 7.58 per cent from S$66,000 to close at S$61,000.
Traders were surprised at the extent of the drop in this category, but attributed the decline in premiums to the increase in COE quota.
The Land Transport Authority released 19,912 COEs for the May to July period — up 41 per cent from the 14,114 COEs made available from February to April.
CarTimes’ managing director Eddie Loo offered another explanation for the decline: “There’s a lot of backlog but people cannot bid because the cars are not here yet.”
Today marked the final COE bidding exercise before more stringent conditions for rebates and surcharges under the revised Carbon Emissions-Based Vehicle Scheme (CEVS) start next month.
Mr Raymond Tang, first vice-president of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association, felt that dealers might advise car buyers to adopt a wait-and-see attitude in the coming bidding exercises, following the CEVS’ revision.
“They’ll want to see what the results are like in July. Maybe COE prices will drop further,” said Mr Tang, estimating that Category A premiums may see a “slight drop” to between S$58,000 and S$61,000.
The last time COE prices for this category fell below S$60,000 was in February this year, when premiums closed at S$57,199.
However, Mr Ron Lim, general manager of Tan Chong Motor, noted that premiums bounced back up immediately to close at S$61,410 in the following exercise.
A similar trend might ensue, he added. “You might see people rushing in to bid for the next one and what happens then?”
Premium changes for big cars in Category B (above 1,600cc or 97kW) dropped 4.65 per cent to S$71,509, from S$75,000 previously.
In the remaining categories, changes were minimal.
COE prices for commercial vehicles closed at S$50,502, down 0.78 per cent from S$50,900. Motorcycle premiums fell 1.66 per cent, from S$6,509 to S$6,401.
Premiums for the Open Category — which can be used for all categories but tend to be snapped up by big car owners— dropped 1.72 per cent, from S$75,801 to S$74,501.
Compared to the previous COE exercise earlier this month, fewer bids were received in all categories, save for motorcycles.
There were a total of 4,212 bids for the 3,365 COEs available. Of these, 3,345 bids were successful.
