COE quota up 3.6% to 15,834 for period from November to January

SINGAPORE – The number of certificates of entitlement (COEs) available for bidding between November 2024 and January 2025 will rise to 15,834 – 3.6 per cent more than

the 15,283 available from August to October

.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a statement on Oct 4 that there will be 6,190 Category A COEs, meant for smaller and less powerful cars and electric vehicles (EVs), available for bidding in the three months from November.

Compared with 5,864 pieces between August and October, this is an increase of 5.6 per cent, and translates to 54 more Category A COEs at each tender exercise.

COEs give people the right to own a vehicle in Singapore.

For Category B COEs, meant for larger and more powerful cars and EVs, the supply in the new three-month period is 4,060 – 2 per cent higher than the current 3,980 pieces.

The Open category (Category E) COE supply will go up by 3.6 per cent, from the current 1,035 certificates to 1,072.

Although Open category COEs can be used to register any vehicle type other than motorcycles, they are almost always used for bigger, more powerful cars.

When the supply of Category B and E COEs is taken together, the increase in the number of certificates for larger cars works out to 2.3 per cent, or 117 more pieces, compared with the current August-to-October period.

The supply of commercial vehicle (Category C) COEs will climb by 8.3 per cent to 1,407 pieces for the new quota period, up from 1,299. This works out to 18 more COEs at each tender exercise.

The number of COEs for motorcycles (Category D) remains unchanged at 3,105 pieces.

The main determinant of the COE supply in a given three-month period is the rolling average of deregistrations in the previous four quarters.

Since the second tender exercise of May 2023, LTA has brought forward COEs that are due to expire in the next projected supply peak for redistribution.

Factored into the announced COE supply are 3,315 certificates redistributed from identified guaranteed deregistrations. These comprise 1,390 Category A COEs, 1,060 Category B certificates and 865 motorcycle COEs.

When the identified vehicles used for the redistribution are scrapped, the COEs are not returned to the pool for bidding.

LTA can make the COE supply announcement any time before the opening of the first tender exercise in the next quota period. With one more tender exercise to go in the current quota period, the authority’s announcement for this round is earlier compared with the past two quota announcements.

Some motor dealers believe that LTA’s announcement was timed for just before The Car Expo, which happens on Oct 5 and 6. The car sales event is organised by SPH Media, which publishes The Straits Times.

Mr Nicholas Wong, chief executive of Honda agent Kah Motor, said that the increase in COE supply is minimal and will not bring down premiums in the upcoming tender exercise, given the expected increase in sales over the event weekend.

Ms Sabrina Sng, a managing director at multi-franchise group Wearnes Automotive, said motor dealers have come to expect only gradual increases in COE supply. “Unless we see a double-digit percentage increase, you won’t see a big change in COE prices.”

Automotive consultant Vincent Ng said that the announcement may even drive up demand for COEs.

“If you are waiting for COE prices to drop, today’s news says that it is not going to happen. Tomorrow, everyone will go out and buy.”