SINGAPORE — In November, Transport Minister S Iswaran said in Parliament that 471,000 households in Singapore own cars, and among them, 12 per cent own two cars and fewer than three per cent own three or more cars, in response to a question posed by Mr Gerald Giam (Workers’ Party – Aljunied GRC).
In a Jan 3 Facebook post, Mr Giam wrote, “This means that about 15 per cent of (car-owning) households — or 70,650 households — own two or more cars. This is by no means a small number.”
He also asked Mr Iswaran a follow-up question concerning the impact multiple car owners have on the price of the Certificate of Entitlement (COEs) given that “they not only add to the demand for cars, but because they tend to be higher income households, they have the ability to pay more for their COEs.”
He further asked if the ministry has plans to “dampen the demand for second and subsequent Category A cars from the same household.”
This would mean that Singapore’s limited supply of cars may be spread out more equitably to individuals who need them the most, with Mr Giam giving the example of caregivers and those who need to drive for work.
The minister answered that there has not been any significant shift in patterns of demand for cars, as the proportion cited by households in the various categories being “relatively stable over time.”
He added, “If anything, multiple car ownership among individuals has shown probably a bit of a declining trend.”
On Nov 23, the COE for smaller cars ended at $90,589 in the latest tender exercise.
The highest it has ever been was $92,100, recorded in January 2013.
For commercial vehicles, a new high of $81,802 in November as well.
There are no restrictions on how many vehicles a person can register under his or her name, provided that the individual is successful in bidding or securing a COE to register a vehicle. But individual bidders cannot bid for more than one COE for each bidding exercise, motorist.sg points out on its website. /TISG
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