Gasgoo.com (Shanghai October 24) - The average ending price for Shanghai license plate auctions is constantly increasing, Xinhua reported today. Statistics from October show that the average price for license plates from both private buyers and businesses has exceeded 54,000 yuan ($8,493.24), setting the highest monthly figure since 2007 and third highest all-time result.

9,000 license plates were sold last month, a decrease of 500 from August. The number of prospective bidders was also the lowest it has been all year, with only 19,415 interested, 46.3 percent of which won plates. The lowest priced plate was 53,800 yuan ($8,461.78), 1,600 yuan ($251.65) higher than the previous month.

The all-time records for license plate prices come from November and December of 2007, where average prices reached 54,317 ($7,350.25) and 56,042 yuan ($7,619.58), respectively.