SINGAPORE — Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices increased for three out of five vehicle categories in the latest bidding exercise that closed on Wednesday (5 April), with prices in Category A and B hitting new records for the second time in a row.

Category A, which includes cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp, or electric vehicles (EV) up to 110kW, saw prices close at S$96,501 — up from the previous high of S$93,503 set during the last bidding exercise which closed on 22 March.

Similarly, prices rose to a new record of S$118,501 for Category B, or cars above 1,600cc and 130bhp as well as EVs higher than 110kW. It broke the previous record of S$116,201 set in the last bidding exercise.

Open category COEs, which can be used for any vehicle type but are usually used mostly to buy large cars, also saw prices reaching a new high of S$118,990, up from S$116,020 in the previous bidding exercise. Its previous all-time-high price of S$118,001 was set in February 2023.

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Prices for motorcycle premiums, or Category D vehicles, remain unchanged at S$12,001.

Meanwhile, COE premiums for Category C, which include commercial vehicles such as goods vehicles and buses, fell by S$8,588 to S$76,801, from S$85,389. This is the second time in a row that COE prices for this category has fallen – it fell by S$5,712, from S$91,101, in the last bidding exercise.

A total of 2,199 bids were made for the 1,592 COEs available in this latest bidding exercise.

A new calculation method announced by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 20 January was implemented during the February 2023 COE bidding exercise. The new quota system aims to reduce supply volatility and uses a revised method for calculating available COEs for bidding.

Available COEs for bidding in each quarter are now computed based on the rolling average of the number of deregistered vehicles in the previous four quarters instead of two. It resulted in an increase in the overall COE supply from 9,128 in the previous quarter to 9,437 for the February to April 2023 period.

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