EVEN as Housing Board resale flat prices inched down in the past month, the number of units that changed hands stood at its highest since October 2012.

Overall resale prices continued a relatively flat trend of the past year, dipping only 0.1 per cent last month, according to latest flash figures from SRX Property.

This was led mainly by five-roomer prices which slid 0.9 per cent. Three-room and executive flat prices rose 0.6 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively while four-roomer prices stayed flat.

The volume of transactions last month, however, rose to 1,828 units – a 10.3 per cent climb from the 1,657 flats transacted in March.

According to SRX Property, this is the highest volume since October 2012, when 1,955 units changed hands. This was just before property cooling measures such as the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty and Total Debt Servicing Ratio were introduced in 2013.

Despite this, resale volume last month still stood far from a market rebound. The numbers are down almost 50 per cent from the peak of 3,649 units in May 2010.

Overall, HDB resale flats transacted last month mostly went at their market value.

yeosamjo@sph.com.sg

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THE cost of certificates of entitlement (COEs) for cars surged to reach a four-month high yesterday despite an expanded quota.

COE price for cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp rose by 1.2 per cent to end at $47,889 despite a 9.3 per cent increase in supply of certificates for the May-July quota period.

COE cost for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp rose by 2.8 per cent to close at $51,010 despite a 21 per cent increase in supply of certificates.

Both premiums are now at their highest since January.

But the cost of Open COE, which can be used for any vehicle type but ends up mostly for bigger cars, finished 1 per cent lower at $49,000.

Motor traders said buying interest whipped up by the annual Cars @ Expo contributed to the bidding frenzy. Organiser Singapore Press Holdings estimated 1,400 cars were sold at the event two weekends ago.

But the bids-to-quota ratio yesterday was lower at 1.6, compared with 1.7 at the previous tender two weeks ago.

This indicates that even though there were fewer bids, the value of bids was higher.

One reason for this is the boom in the private-hire sector, fuelled by companies such as Uber, Grab and SMRT.

At yesterday’s tender, Uber-owned Lion City Rental was successful in all its 90 bids in the Open category with bids as high as $50,902.

Meanwhile, commercial vehicle COE price fell by 1.6 per cent to close at a four-month low of $42,302. Motorcycle premium slid 3.1 per cent to finish at a six-month low of $6,302.

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