Buyer's or Seller's market?
- Thread starter Brian D
- Start date
It is a seller's market. Prices for used boats are high and good used boats are hard to find.
Same question comes up all the time in the truck and rv market. Hard to say with a depreciable asset.
Unlike assets that generally appreciate, I think time on the market, selling price vs. asking price, and availability of boats in good condition are good indicators.
From what I have heard good boats don't stay on the market for long and are not selling a big discount from the asking price. That sounds like a seller's market. However, if you are selling to take advantage of this market and plan on buying a new (to you) boat, realize that you are now in the buyer's position in a seller's market.
Hey,
At this time the boat market is most definitely a SELLERs market. Boat prices are very high. New boats have a very long waiting list. Last May I sold my boat (2002 C&C 110, purchased by me in October of 2013) for MORE than I paid for it. Yes, I did keep the boat in good condition (new sails in 2017, updated electronics, etc.) but that was the first time I EVER sold a boat for more than I paid for it. I also sold it in under a month, another big first for me.
In the fall of 2020 I was in the market for a NEW Boat. One of the boats I was interested in was the Dehler 38 SQ. I saw one in October and like it a lot. By December I was ready to buy. I have followed the market for a few years and there were always good deals and big sales in December, Jan, Feb, etc. Not that year. By March I accepted there wouldn't be any big sales or deals so I contacted the dealer I had been working with. He would honor the price we had discussed back in the fall, but the earliest I could expect to receive a boat was maybe spring of 2022. No way was I going to wait over a year for a boat. I ended up finding a very nice used boat close to me. I overpaid for it, but was happy to get it.
Barry
At this time the boat market is most definitely a SELLERs market. Boat prices are very high. New boats have a very long waiting list. Last May I sold my boat (2002 C&C 110, purchased by me in October of 2013) for MORE than I paid for it. Yes, I did keep the boat in good condition (new sails in 2017, updated electronics, etc.) but that was the first time I EVER sold a boat for more than I paid for it. I also sold it in under a month, another big first for me.
In the fall of 2020 I was in the market for a NEW Boat. One of the boats I was interested in was the Dehler 38 SQ. I saw one in October and like it a lot. By December I was ready to buy. I have followed the market for a few years and there were always good deals and big sales in December, Jan, Feb, etc. Not that year. By March I accepted there wouldn't be any big sales or deals so I contacted the dealer I had been working with. He would honor the price we had discussed back in the fall, but the earliest I could expect to receive a boat was maybe spring of 2022. No way was I going to wait over a year for a boat. I ended up finding a very nice used boat close to me. I overpaid for it, but was happy to get it.
Barry
Depends where and when according to some brokers I’ve talked to about this. Seasonal considerations aside, the data they look at seems to indicate quicker and more sales down South for typically higher value while the opposite up North. The hypothesis they suggest is the trend follows the free time and leisure lifestyle more prevalent down here.
If you got what you wanted, when and where you wanted it, you did not overpay for it.
As a broker, I can say this is likely true in stocks and real estate, but not true whatsoever when it comes to real boats. Most other comments here are quite accurate. A boat will sell fast if 2 conditions prevail; a fair selling price and if the vessel is clean and well kept. These are the boats that get offers quickly. The others are just a battle between sellers that think they've got a gold bar and buyers that want auction-level pricing. That is always quite a delta and that's the reason these lesser boats take a long, long time to sell.
Last year seemed to be a sellers’ market in Northern Michigan. An unusual number of boats changed hands.
Those that I was most aware of either aged out of sailing in general, bought a power boat, or worse, a pontoon boat.
Mid season, I put my boat up for sale by owner. I had more serious interest than expected over the course of about 6 weeks. Ultimately I got two offers on the same day, and sold for what I considered to be a very fair price for both the buyer and me. Easy transaction.
Those that I was most aware of either aged out of sailing in general, bought a power boat, or worse, a pontoon boat.
Mid season, I put my boat up for sale by owner. I had more serious interest than expected over the course of about 6 weeks. Ultimately I got two offers on the same day, and sold for what I considered to be a very fair price for both the buyer and me. Easy transaction.
Like in real estate, and not like "that's a fake boat"?
Local brokerage business seems to have evolved into a two-level market. The Roomy Interior late model "condo's with a mast" are selling well IF they are Clean. Lots of new sailors in the market are attracted to them, but cannot find a new boat without a long wait.
More traditional Sailing boats take longer to sell, and I suspect that that will comprise a slowly declining part of the market going forward. The days when companies like Catalina, San Juan, Ranger, and others were priming the pump with oodles new 20 to 22' sailboats sold to young families are now just a nice memory. Those young families moved up and now we are slowly cruising into retirement... And our local one design racing is now doing sort of OK, but is comprised of aging fleets of Ranger 20's, Catalina 22's, Merit 25's, Martin 24's, and some J-24's. Not too many folks out racing without showing some gray hair.
Not much help for it tho... the survivors in the mass production boat business are just living/profiting by a sort of nautical "Gresham's Law". And then, there are a still a lot of surviving hulls from the 80's and 90's with "good bones" that can be restored to New by anyone who wants both speed and quality.
That's why we opted for a full re-fit last year, and spend way under half what a new equivalent boat would have cost us. But we are in a very small part of the market.
Microscopic, at the most.....
Things are going to get more weird too. I know of owners with 25 year old cheap-built boats that are feeling depressed by the work & money required to maintain boats that were never designed or built to last barely this long.
The next decade should be interesting... !
More traditional Sailing boats take longer to sell, and I suspect that that will comprise a slowly declining part of the market going forward. The days when companies like Catalina, San Juan, Ranger, and others were priming the pump with oodles new 20 to 22' sailboats sold to young families are now just a nice memory. Those young families moved up and now we are slowly cruising into retirement... And our local one design racing is now doing sort of OK, but is comprised of aging fleets of Ranger 20's, Catalina 22's, Merit 25's, Martin 24's, and some J-24's. Not too many folks out racing without showing some gray hair.
Not much help for it tho... the survivors in the mass production boat business are just living/profiting by a sort of nautical "Gresham's Law". And then, there are a still a lot of surviving hulls from the 80's and 90's with "good bones" that can be restored to New by anyone who wants both speed and quality.
That's why we opted for a full re-fit last year, and spend way under half what a new equivalent boat would have cost us. But we are in a very small part of the market.
Microscopic, at the most.....Things are going to get more weird too. I know of owners with 25 year old cheap-built boats that are feeling depressed by the work & money required to maintain boats that were never designed or built to last barely this long.
The next decade should be interesting... !
What a beautiful port to sail out of! All of Lake Michigan is open to you, and Huron and Superior are pretty close.
I'd say neither. It's the condition of the boat along with general inflation in the economy...and we know what direction that is going.
I would say it is not a seller's market.
I just sold my boat, no body would actually come see it as they only see the age in numbers not actual condition, finally someone did fall in love with her; a very very well preserved 1986 Hunter 34
I just sold my boat, no body would actually come see it as they only see the age in numbers not actual condition, finally someone did fall in love with her; a very very well preserved 1986 Hunter 34
Hard to say........had 2 competing offers on the same day, sold the boat for full price higher than what I paid for it 4 years ago..........and closed 24 hours after sea trial and survey (without a repair allowance) and receipt of US Coast Guard abstract receipt.
Have no intention of selling and have been offered more than I paid 10 years ago. Property I bought in a beach town in 2016 supposedly up 40%, I couldn't afford it now.