Category A certificate of entitlement (COE) prices fell to S$123,890 at the Aug 5 tender exercise., while the Category B COE premium was largely unchanged.
The premium for a Category A COE – meant for smaller, less powerful cars and electric vehicles (EVs) – dipped 1.7 per cent from S$126,000.
The price of a Category B COE, used to register larger, more powerful cars and EVs, was S$129,910, a marginal S$20 increase from S$129,890 at the previous tender on July 22.
The price of an Open category (Category E) COE climbed 0.8 per cent from S$129,971 to S$131,000.
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 3 per cent increase from S$10,202 to S$10,503.
This is the third consecutive exercise where the price of such certificates has breached the five-digit mark, and there have been a total of five such occurrences so far in 2026.
The price of a commercial vehicle (Category C) COE dropped 2.5 per cent to S$91,545, from S$93,889.
A COE is needed to own and use a vehicle in Singapore.
Ms. Corinne Chua, managing director of Volvo at motor distributor Wearnes Automotive, noted that the previous record of S$129,000 for Category A COEs may have set a perceived “maximum threshold” on what buyers are willing to pay.
As a result, some prospective buyers might have held back on their purchases, leading to lower demand in the latest bidding exercise.
As there have been new launches of EVs belonging to Category B in recent weeks, she suggested that buyer demand could have shifted away from Category A to Category B.
Some customers might also be waiting to see the impact of a 4 per cent decrease in the number of Category A COEs – from August to October – before deciding on their next purchase, Ms. Chua added. She expects prices to stabilise at around the current levels, as the changes in COE premiums this time are not big enough to shift consumer behaviour.
Mr. Zafar Momin, an adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore Business School and an expert in the automotive industry, said it may be too early to determine if Category A premiums will continue to trend downwards. He believes that the recent 0.2 per cent increase in the total number of COEs was not significant enough to drive changes in prices this time.
Noting that prices could also be affected by various factors that influence demand and by economic shocks, Mr. Momin said that COE premiums cannot be predicted based on supply alone. THE STRAITS TIMES
