More COEs from August to October
More certificates of entitlement (COEs) will be available for the next three-month quota period starting from August - a development that motor industry players say will keep premiums stable.
The Land Transport Authority said yesterday there will be 9,225 COEs a month from August to October - up 12.5 per cent from the present monthly supply of 8,202.
Car buyers will have 6,912 COEs a month, or 5.7 per cent more than now. The number includes Open COEs, which can be used for any vehicle type except motorcycles, but are usually used for cars.
Motorcyclists will get the biggest increase, with their quota ballooning to 1,639 COEs a month - 55.7 per cent more than now.
Mr Ron Lim, head of sales and marketing at Nissan agent Tan Chong Motor, attributes the rise in car COE supply to more cars being deregistered.
He said: "It is actually the early scrappage of newer cars that led to the quota growth."
These cars are those registered between 2012 and 2016, when car premiums were as high as $90,000.
Now that premiums have dropped to as low as $25,000, owners of these "high COE cars" are scrapping them as their annual depreciation is higher than new cars now.
Singapore Motor Cycle Trade Association general secretary Norman Lee said the rise in motorbike COE supply is fuelled by a surge in bike deregistrations, after a government push encouraging riders to get rid of older, more pollutive motorbikes.
In the April-June period, 31,073 vehicles were deregistered, up 45.4 per cent from the previous three months.
Industry watchers expect the expanded supply - which extends to commercial vehicles - to further dampen premiums.
In the latest bidding exercise on July 4, the premium for cars of up to 1,600cc and 130bhp fell by 26.7 per cent to $25,000. The COE price for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp dropped by 8.6 per cent to $31,000.
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