Cat A COE prices up 10 times since 2009

In the latest Certificate of Entitlement (COE) bidding exercise, prices finished mixed after the session on Wednesday.

Premiums for Category A - cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp - saw a slight increase of 0.6 per cent, from $55,889 to $56,209.

COE prices for Cat B - cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp - increased by 4.6 per cent to $60,789, from $58,109 in July.

According to Channel Newsasia:

A total of 5,368 bids were received, with a quota of 3,647 COEs available.

This marks the first bidding exercise after the COE supply was expanded. During the August to October period, 21,845 COEs will be available, up from last quarter's 19,912.

What is interesting to note is the price of Cat A COEs - with relation to the total quota of certificates in the category.

In the latest bidding exercise, a total of 1,688 certificates were issued in the category, with prices at S$56,209.

The last time Cat A quota was above 1,600 was in March 2009.

At the time, Cat A COE was just $5,116.

The latest price is $56,209.

This is a 10-time difference in prices even though quota levels were in the same 1,600 - 1,900 range on both occasions, according to data on the website which tracks COE prices, "COE Trends".