The brokerage market posted some truly encouraging numbers for last year as a whole, with a grand total of 434 yachts over 24 metres sold — the highest tally since before the global economic crisis and 64 more than in 2016, making for a year-on-year increase of more than 17 per cent.
The fourth quarter was particularly encouraging, with 115 deals concluded, including the 73.5 metre Nobiskrug superyacht Project 783 (pictured below, now renamed Dytan). Although many sales were delayed by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, it seems buyers were not deterred by one of the most damaging Caribbean hurricane seasons in recent history.
Not all sectors fared strongly over the entire year, however, with only 32 yachts in the 50-70 metre segment changing hands — four fewer than the previous year and eight fewer than 2015. This led to a slight decline in the average length of yacht sold, from 35.82 metres to 35.37 metres.
“The primary driver for this was probably the reduced inventory of yachts available for sale,” says Richard Lambert, head of sales at Burgess. His comments are borne out by the depressed number of new listings (254), which lagged behind the number of sales for the fourth year running. This makes for a net decrease of 180 yachts coming to the market — but it’s still better than 2016, when 206 fewer yachts were newly listed than sold.
Geographically speaking, one market stands out, with a 47 per cent share of yacht sales from 2017. “The US leads the pack for the industry as a whole,” explains Fraser CEO Raphael Sauleau. “Stocks are high and the outlook on new corporate tax legislation certainly favours the current high spirit.”
Bob Denison, president of Denison Yachting, adds, “This has a lot to do with consumer confidence being at a 17-year high, along with a very healthy real estate market, and a Dow that keeps climbing.” Lambert agrees about the US but adds that Asia is ripe for further investment. Meanwhile, Irini Sarantis, of IYC, has identified Latin America and Mexico in particular as another source of great potential.
As brokers scour the globe for future clients, it seems there is a steadily growing demand for well maintained, competitively priced superyachts.