In east China's Shanghai municipality, bids for private car
license plates hit a one-year low over the weekend.
Bidding is mandatory for anyone who wishes to own a car in
Shanghai. Local government releases only a limited number of plates
for auction every month.
At Saturday's auction, the lowest winning bid for a private auto
plate plunged to 25,000 yuan (US$3,086), the lowest since August
last year. Last month's lowest winning bid was 37,900 yuan
(US$4,679).
The average winning price for plates was 35,905 yuan (US$4,433),
down by 2,473 yuan (US$301) from last month.
Plate prices have been steadily rising for three straight months
fueled by a buying spree.
Early this month, the city's transport authority, which controls
plate quotas, warned local vehicle dealers not to encourage
customers to make unreasonably high bids that jack up plate
prices.
"Some dealers still advise their customers to offer higher
bidding prices, so the average price stays high," Yang Ping, a
33-year-old vehicle dealer, said.
"Sometimes, prices advised by dealers might be higher than the
final winning price as dealers want to ensure their customers get a
plate, but most of the time, we just advise them based on the
previous prices and car sales," Yang said.
The government released 6,829 plates this month, up from 6,326
last month. The number of bidders, however, dropped to 7,520 from
8,777 in July.
(Shanghai Daily August 22, 2005)