While Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums ended mostly lower in the latest round of bidding on Wednesday (June 7), prices for commercial vehicles jumped more than 25 percent.
From $30,600 two weeks ago (May 24), the COE for commercial vehicles closed at $38,501 during the latest round of bidding, which closed at 4pm.
Mr Neo Nam Heng, chairman of diversified motor group Prime, said this is a spillover effect from April, when the COE for goods vehicles dropped to a six-year low of $26,501, driving demand.
However, the high prices may drive demand for these vehicles down once again and stabilise prices, he said.
The downward trend continued for cars up to 1600cc, with premiums dipping 2.8 percent, from $46,489 to $45,201.
Also going down were premiums for cars above 1600cc, from $53,001 to $50,110, a 5.5 percent drop.
This is because the demand for private-hire cars has reached its peak, said Mr Neo, pointing to the Private-Hire Car Drive Licencing regulations that will come into effect from next month as a possible reason.
“The demand is declining,” he said.
For the vehicles in the open category, prices dropped from $52,000 previously to $50,526. Only motorcycle COEs remained constant, staying at $6101 from the last round of bidding.
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