2010 Market Report

Steady rather than spectacular would describe the superyacht market in 2010. Buyers were out there, but not in their droves, and it was the larger yachts they were after. For those in the market for a yacht there were rich pickings to be had with a buoyant supply still driving down prices, although the average asking price showed an upward trend. An increasing stream of new orders favoured the Dutch yards.

2010 in numbers

Brokerage

In terms of brokerage sales, 2010 finished ahead of 2009, but only slightly. We reported 205 sales over 24m last year, compared to 194 in 2009, a modest 6% increase. It looked like it was going to be much better than this earlier in the year – 2010 got off to a much faster start than 2009, and was tracking 80% ahead in June. But the second half of the year was steady, averaging 16 sales per month, whereas 2009 saw an average of 20 sales per month in the same period. See chart 2 on our analysis page

Where there was a much more noticeable difference was asking prices: the total valuation based on asking prices at the time of sale in 2010 was €2.5 billion, up from €1.8 billion in 2009, a 38% rise; and the average asking price of yachts sold in 2010 was 30% higher at €12.4 million, up from €9.5 million in 2009.

This increase in asking prices is perhaps explained by the fact that there were more sales of larger yachts, especially in the 50-70m size bracket – 27 in 2010 compared to 16 in 2009. See chart 3 on our analysis page

108 builders were represented in the 205 sales we reported in 2010. Once again, Benetti and Feadship were the most popular, and in fact swapped places – 14 Feadships were sold in 2010 (12 in 2009) and 11 Benettis (13 in 2009). See chart 4 on our analysis page

Although 205 yachts came off the market, we reported 315 new central agencies for sale in 2010, so supply continues to outstrip demand. It is therefore no surprise that 2010 saw so many price cuts – we reported 441, more than twice the number we reported in 2009. The overall reduction came to €4.4 billion and the average reduction was 13% of the previous asking price. This is actually an improvement on 2009, where the average reduction we reported was 16%.

		More analysis, including a variety of sales trackers, is available in the Brokerage Sales section of Market Intelligence.

New Construction

We recorded 60 orders for new yachts in 2010, although based on our research the actual number was 105. This is a definite improvement on 2009 which saw 80 new orders.

Dutch yards were dominant, accounting for a third of the 60 orders we reported. Heesen led the way with six contracts, followed by Feadship with four, and Amels with three – Click here for details of superyacht orders in 2010.

234 yachts were launched in 2010, almost a quarter of them (56) from Italian yards. This included the 133.9m Serene by Fincantieri, the largest launch of the year and the largest ever by an Italian yard – read more about the launch of Serene.

Finally, 219 new yachts were completed and delivered to their owners in 2010. Benetti and Sunseeker both delivered 11 yachts, but the highlight of the year was undoubtedly the delivery of the 162.5m Eclipse by Blohm + Voss, now the largest yacht in the world – read more about the delivery of Eclipse.

Full details of new orders, launches and completions are available in Market Intelligence.

Early last year Jonathan Beckett, Chief Executive of Burgess, proved remarkably prescient in predicting market movements in 2010, so I asked him if he’d care to dust off his crystal ball again and give us his take on current conditions and what the future holds for 2011.  Click here to read Jonathan’s thoughts on the superyacht market