SINGAPORE — With a bumper crop of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) available from this month, premiums fell at the close of the latest bidding exercise yesterday, save for a spike in motorcycle premiums.

The premium for small cars (up to 1600cc and 97kW) fell 4.6 per cent from S$65,001 to S$62,002, while those for big cars (above 1600cc and 97kW) saw a 7.8 per cent decrease, from S$76,889 to S$70,890.

COE prices for commercial vehicles, including goods vehicles and buses, fell 5.3 per cent from S$55,012 to S$52,101, while the Open Category premiums — which can be used for any vehicle type but end up being used mainly for big cars — fell 6.3 per cent to S$71,921, from S$76,790.

On the other hand, motorcycle premiums saw a 12.6 per cent rise, from S$4,889 to S$5,504.

The COE quota for this month till April is the highest since last February, mainly due to a large number of vehicle deregistrations. About 14,114 COEs are up for bidding, compared with 11,932 in the previous three months.

The quotas for small cars and commercial vehicles rose the most, while quotas for motorcycles and vehicles in the Open Category were slashed about 10.1 per cent and 33.8 per cent, respectively.

Automobile traders TODAY spoke to said the drop in premiums are in line with the spike in quotas.

Singapore Vehicle Traders Association (SVTA) honorary secretary Raymond Tang predicted that prices could stay in the same range in the next bidding exercise later this month, given that quotas remain generous.

CarTimes’ managing director Eddie Loo said there might be a decrease in the number of buyers in the next bidding exercise due to Chinese New Year, which could further drive down the premiums for small cars. “People will be busy preparing and shopping ... There will be fewer buyers and more COE quotas for (small cars), which has the highest number of quotas,” he said.

The SVTA’s immediate past president Ricky Tay said he expects COE prices for big cars to continue falling as fewer people are buying them. “The downpayment for big cars is very huge and the more (affluent) people are not focused on buying big cars because of the poor property market,” he said.

However, Mr Tay thinks the dip will range only between 3 and 5 per cent as there was already a very significant fall in yesterday’s bidding exercise.

Agreeing with the industry sentiment that the Chinese New Year could cause a slowdown in buyer rates for both big and small cars, he added: “The drop will be the same for small cars because they make up 60 per cent of the car population here, so there’s a strong replacement market where (people are constantly changing cars).”