COE prices fall across the board; premium for big cars plunges by $40k

Certificate of entitlement (COE) prices fell across all five categories at the latest tender exercise that closed on Wednesday.

- Lee Nian Tjoe

The biggest drops were in the premiums for Category B, for larger, more powerful cars and electric vehicles (EVs), which tumbled by $40,000, and the Open category, which fell by nearly $33,000. These drops came after six consecutive tender exercises that saw record-breaking premiums for both categories.

The premium for Category B COEs ended at $110,001 – down 26.67 per cent from the $150,001 record set in the previous round three weeks ago. This is the biggest fall in COE premiums since 1995.

At $125,011, the latest COE price for the Open category – which can be used for any vehicle type except motorcycles but ends up mostly for bigger cars – is 20.88 per cent below the $158,004 record set at the last tender.

The COE premium for Category A, for smaller, less powerful cars and EVs, fell to $95,689 – a 9.73 per cent drop from the $106,000 recorded at the last tender exercise.

This is the first time the COE price in this category fell below the six-figure mark since August.

The commercial vehicle COE premium dipped by 8.01 per cent to end at $78,001, from $84,790 at the last exercise.

The motorcycle COE premium came in at $10,889, down 2.79 per cent from $11,201.

This is the first tender exercise under the new quota period from November to January with a bigger COE supply.