Singaporeans need S$99,999 just for the right to buy a car

By Kevin Varley

(Bloomberg) —The cost of buying the right to own a car in Singapore hit a record for the third consecutive bidding, according to data released by the Land Transport Authority.

Bids for open category certificates of entitlement (COE), which can be used for any vehicle type but end up being used mainly for large cars, increased to a high of S$99,999 (US$73,549) in April’s first round of bidding. That’s a cost incurred before purchasing the actual vehicle.

Premiums for larger and more powerful cars in Category B reached their second highest level at S$98,389, while smaller cars, or those 1,600cc and below with horsepower not exceeding 130 bhp, rose to S$72,996.

The government recently announced that it would reclassify electric vehicles under 110kw into this latter Category A as of May to make mass market EV’s more affordable and to help Singapore with its sustainability plans.

Still, the EV plans might not target special car owner categories.

Existing car owners must renew their vehicle’s COE before it expires and at least 6% of car buyers in Singapore owned more than one car last year, according to the LTA. Over a third of the new registered cars in the second half of 2021 were luxury models (22% either BMW or Mercedes-Benz), according to Bloomberg calculations based on official data.

Private transport costs rose 17.2% from a year earlier in February, pushing the nation’s overall inflation to its highest level since Feb. 2013. New registrations of motor vehicles in Singapore hit a 20-month low in February according to Gaikindo.

Following is a summary of Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums for motor vehicles at the close of the latest bidding tender.

Source: Land Transport Authority, Singapore

(Corrects size and scope in the first paragraph, and chart in a story published April 6. An earlier version was updated with COE renewal details.)

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.