Evolution of the American brokerage market
Sanford points out that even though the
statistics show a sharp increase in American
ownership, overall the worldwide yachting
market has been slowing down over the last 12
months. “Fortunately, the strong improvement in
the American market has really helped bolster
the market worldwide,” he says.
What’s behind this surge? Brokers point to
lower taxes and interest rates, slackened
regulations in other sectors, and bullish equity
markets. “[But] the simple explanation is the
economy,” says Mark Elliott of IYC. “The
[economy] in the US has been very strong,
making the wealthy more comfortable with
spending big money. There has been pent-up
wealth from conservative investors who now feel
they have some extra money to play with.”
Not only are American yacht owners buying
more brokerage boats, but they are commanding
the new-build market as well. There are 830
superyachts on order or in build globally,
according to the 2019 Global Order Book.
Of these, 456 projects have owners (the rest
being yachts started on speculation), of whichespite an escalating trade war with China, threats
of tariffs against Mexico and an economic policy
largely communicated via Twitter, consumer
confidence in the United States today is sky high- tracking at levels not seen since before the
global financial crisis. The effect this is having
on superyacht sales is pronounced. In short, “the
US market is dominating yacht sales at the
moment”, according to Wes Sanford, sales broker
for Northrop & Johnson.
This is reflected in BOAT International’s own
statistics, which put the value of all superyachts
sold to US owners in 2018 at $8.043 billion
(£6.3bn), which includes brokerage sales and new
projects under construction in the latest Global
Order Book, up 32.5 per cent in just three years.
On the brokerage side (mostly used superyacht
sales, but includes all transactions where a broker
is involved), US owners bought 239 yachts in 2018,
accounting for 55 per cent of all sales. In 2015, this
number was 175 units, or 45 per cent of the entire
market. And things aren’t slowing down. At press
time, 68 yachts on the brokerage market had
found their way to US owners – half of all sales.
(^2015) SalesBrokeragebuiltinsalesthetoUSUSowners 2016 2017 2018 (Jan-April) 2019
175 174
81
6,223 6,234 7,341 8,192 2,484
35.56
9,695,942
44.64 47.03 48.40 54.94 50
9,051,004 7,157,010 8,445,541 8,873,440
35.83 34.63 34.28 36.53
79
212
98
239
92
68
28
Combined LOA (m)
Average LOA (m)
Combined asking prices (€)
Average asking price (€)
% of global brokerage sales
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