COE premiums for all categories rise slightly
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums inched up across the board at the close of the first bidding exercise this month, with traders expecting keener interest in smaller cars in the coming months because of the uncertain economic outlook.
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Category A prices (small cars up to 1,600cc and 97kW) rose 4.7 per cent to S$45,000, while premiums for big cars (above 1,600cc and 97kW) crept up 1.3 per cent to S$47,604.
In the Open category, which can be used for any vehicle type but is used typically for large cars, COE prices went up by 2.2 per cent to S$48,002. Premiums for goods vehicles and buses saw the biggest increase of 8.6 per cent to close at $48,890. COE premiums for motorcycles recorded an increase from S$6,353 to $6,503.
A total of 7,864 bids were received this round for 4,210 certificates available for the bidding exercise that ended on Wednesday (March 9).
Traders said they expect COE premiums for cars to continue hovering around the current levels, or drop gradually.
Pointing to the number of bids submitted for Category A — 3,518 for 2,033; albeit only 1,957 were successful — Mr Jeremy Soh, honorary secretary of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association, said: “With the economic outlook, I believe that more people would be downgrading from the big cars to the smaller cars for its affordability.”
Mr Soh added that demand would stay healthy as deregistration of old cars continue. From February to next month, 25,210 COEs — or 8,403 COEs a month — are available.
Mr Eddie Loo, managing director of car dealer CarTimes Automobile, thinks the good sales seen after the Chinese New Year break will continue for the rest of the month.
Pointing to the steady stream of walk-in customers at his company, he said: “So far, the market has been good and the sales in the last two weeks have been fantastic.
“And with some car deals coming up, there’s a lot of pent-up interest, we can expect to see more buyers coming in.”
He also predicted that premiums would “soften and slide back” to about S$43,000 for small cars and S$45,000 for big cars.
Mr Raymond Tang of Yong Lee Seng Motor noted the slightly more “aggressive” bidding in the latest exercise, which he attributed to agents’ uncertainties about the upcoming Budget in less than two weeks’ time.
He said: “Nobody knows whether there could be further cooling measures, which could affect the car industry, so they are taking (a chance now).”
