By Tony Ng

The pressure has eased off on the premiums of the Certificates of Entitlement (COE). Prices have dropped across the board in the first open bidding of November, preventing it from crossing the $20,000 mark again.

The premium for small cars (Category A, 1,600cc and below) dipped the most. It dropped to $16,747 from $18,899 last month, an 11.4 per cent dip.

COE premium for large cars dropped as well to $18,389 from $19,510, a 5.7 per cent decrease.

The open category - normally used for cars - dipped the least among premiums for cars. It closed at $19,000 flat - a $901 decrease from the previous bidding.

Premiums for commercial vehicles and motorcycles went down too. They closed at $16,989 and $902 respectively.

Most categories had a number of bids quite close to their quota.

For example, out of the reduced quota of 1,226 pieces of Category A COEs available, there were 1,395 bids. For Category B, there were 779 bids for 704 pieces.

But for Category E - the open category where COEs are transferable - there were an overwhelming 923 bids for 582 pieces.

This is the second month since the COE quotas have been cut by an overall 15.7 per cent due to the Land Transport Authority's mid-year quota review.

tonyng@sph.com.sg