After hitting a record in the previous certificate of entitlement (COE) exercise, the price of a Category A COE has fallen to S$126,000.
Meant for smaller, less powerful cars and electric vehicles (EVs), the Category A COE premium dipped by S$3,000, or 2.3 per cent, from S$129,000 at the previous tender on July 8.
Meanwhile, the premium for Category B COEs, used to register larger, more powerful cars and EVs, fell slightly from S$130,889 to S$129,890 – a decrease of 0.8 per cent.
The price of Open category COEs, otherwise known as Category E, went up 0.1 per cent from $129,801 to $129,971.
Certificates in this category can be used to register any vehicle type except motorcycles, but are mostly used for bigger cars.
As these certificates are transferable, motor traders often secure them for the flexibility to register cars without waiting for the next tender exercise.
The motorcycle (Category D) COE premium recorded a marginal increase of S$1, from S$10,201 to S$10,202. This is the second consecutive exercise where the price of such certificates has breached the five-digit mark, and there have been a total of four such occurrences so far in 2026.
The commercial vehicle (Category C) COE price decreased by 1.2 per cent to S$93,889, from S$95,000.
A COE is needed to own and use a vehicle in Singapore.
Zafar Momin, an adjunct professor in the department of strategy and policy at the National University of Singapore’s Business School, said the minor price corrections are “merely a temporary cooling” from very high premiums.
Everyday car buyers likely experienced sticker shock, or dismay at unexpectedly high premiums, during the previous tender, he added.
Corinne Chua, managing director of Swedish car brand Volvo at motor distributor Wearnes Automotive, also attributed the fall in the Category A COE price to a cooling in demand from buyers.
She said that with the supply of COEs for the August to October period set to be released in the coming days, she expects prices to stabilise “around this level”, assuming that the quota does not diverge greatly from current figures.
Between May and July, the COE quota was 19,052, 1.2 per cent more than the 18,824 certificates available from February to April.
The number of Category A COEs had, however, fallen to 7,434, from 7,585. This translated to about 25 fewer certificates in the category for the tender exercises between May and July. The Straits Times
