COE prices rise across-the-board

Sharp increases in Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices were seen in the most recent bidding exercise which …

Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums have risen sharply for all categories of vehicles in the most recent bidding exercise which concluded on Wednesday.

A sharp increase of $4,4845, or 7.1 per cent, was seen in the COE prices of Category A (Cars 1,600cc and below), bringing the price to $73,501. The COE premium for small cars was at $68,656 in the previous round.

The COE premium for Category B (Cars 1,601cc and above) is now at $94,502 after a $4,001 or 4.4 per cent increase, once again breaching the $90,000 mark.

For Category C (Goods vehicles and buses), the COE premium is now at $57,001 compared to $55,805, due to a  $1,196 or 2.1 per cent increase.

Category D (Motorcycles) saw a $222 or 11.9 per cent increase, with premiums closing at $2,081 compared to $1,859 in the previous round.

In Category E (Open), the COE premium is now at $95,034 compared to $92,700 previously, registering a $2,334 or 2.5 per cent increase.

In May, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced a more gradual cut in vehicle growth rate -- a revision from its original announcement in October 2011.

In its May statement, the agency announced that the vehicle growth rate will be reduced from 1.5 per cent per annum to 1 per cent per annum from August 2012.

This will subsequently be further reduced to 0.5 per cent per annum from February 2013 to January 2015.

Just last week, Minister for Transport, Lui Tuck Yew, announced that taxis will be taken out of the COE bidding process starting from August, in response to feedback that taxi operators skew COE prices.

This is the first bidding exercise since changes were made to the COE process.

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