SINGAPORE — Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices closed mostly lower at the end of the latest bidding exercise on Thursday (May 4), though those for small and large cars remain above S$100,000.

Premiums for small cars (up to 1,600cc & 97kW), or fully electric cars with output of up to 110kW, fell by 2.62 per cent to S$101,001.

Large cars (above 1,600cc or 97kW), or fully electric cars with output over 110kW, saw premiums go down from S$120,889 in the previous bidding exercise to S$119,399.

Bucking the trend, COE prices for goods vehicles and buses inched up 0.34 per cent to S$75,589.

In the motorcycle category, premiums nose-dived to S$5,002 from S$12,179 in the previous bidding exercise.

The plunge follows two changes to motorcycle COE bidding made to "improve allocative efficiency", the Land Transport Authority said last month.

The bid deposit went up from S$800 to S$1,500, and the validity period for temporary motorcycle COEs was cut from three months to one month. The expired COEs will be returned for bidding sooner.

Finally, in the open category, which can be used for any type of vehicles except motorcycles, prices eased by 0.4 per cent to S$124,002.

This is the first bidding exercise with the new COE quota of 9,575 — an increase of about 1.5 per cent from the 9,437 COEs in the last quarter. 

NUMBERS AT A GLANCE:

Cat A (Cars up to 1,600cc & 97kW or fully electric cars with output of up to 110kW): S$101,001 (down from S$103,721)

Cat B (Cars above 1,600cc or 97kW or fully electric cars with output over 110kW): S$119,399 (down from S$120,889)

Cat C (Goods vehicles and buses): S$75,589 (up from S$75,334)

Cat D (Motorcycles): S$5,002 (down from S$12,179)

Cat E (Open category): S$124,002 (down from S$124,501)