Boat Market

[boatmike]

I have been looking at selling my Aquastar 33 and going back to a sailing catamaran. Have not put her on the market yet but most of the boats I have been looking at for the last 6 months don't seem to have moved. I am thinking that the current state of the economy, rising prices, etc has caused a real slow down in sales of boats generally. some boats are optimistically priced of course but there are some nice looking boats out there at realistic prices that don't seem to be moving at all? Is it just me or has the market slowed to a halt?

 

[Tranona]

Pretty much right. It will take a while for asking prices to re-align with actually selling prices (that is drop!) and for sellers to respond positively to offers. In a falling market difficult to time your sale and purchase so you pay too high a price and accept too low a price. Best perhaps to sell and then re-assess, although supply of the sort of boat you are looking for is limited.

 

[boatmike]

Pretty much right. It will take a while for asking prices to re-align with actually selling prices (that is drop!) and for sellers to respond positively to offers. In a falling market difficult to time your sale and purchase so you pay too high a price and accept too low a price. Best perhaps to sell and then re-assess, although supply of the sort of boat you are looking for is limited.

Yes I agree. Will put mine up for sale at a reasonable price and see what happens. Also true that there aren't too many decent cats around second hand. That's not new though. Most cat sailors don't go back to monohulls and tend to hang on to them. I only bought the Aquastar because SWMBO wanted to do the French canals. Now thats done and dusted I want my cat back!

 

[Laysula]

The key to selling a boat is in the presentation.

Looks like I'm going to be a boat owner again ....

 

[oldgit]

Two clean well priced motor boats on our moorings sold within days.
A couple of nice craft with very optimistic prices indeed plus a few rather more "tired" vessels have all been languishing on our local broker lists for months.

 

[j24jam]

Well presented and well priced boats are selling quickly again, now winter is finally over. Ive taken 5 deposits on boats this week, all listed in the past month.

Still plenty of overpriced boats on the market still dreaming of covid pricing. Some have got realistic and buyers are snapping them up.

 

[Sadlerfin]

Well presented and well priced boats are selling quickly again, now winter is finally over. Ive taken 5 deposits on boats this week, all listed in the past month.

Still plenty of overpriced boats on the market still dreaming of covid pricing. Some have got realistic and buyers are snapping them up.

Are you a broker?

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Are you a broker?

Either that or he has too many boats.

 

[j24jam]

Either that or he has too many boats.

Only 3 boats to my name... yes I am a broker

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I've been watching the market for a couple of years, and prices are coming down, all the notifications and searches I set kept popping up with price reductions as owners tried to shift boats. Many were still selling though if the condition was good. I bought the boat in post #4 and it was the cheapest advertised price for one of these of the seven or so I've seen come and go. Barring any disasters it should be mine after survey and final payment.

 

[Frogmogman]

My mate sold his Malo 43 almost immediately for the full asking price in March. I don’t think the Malo dealer in Lymington even got around to listing it.

 

[nevis768]

I went to look at a boat on the Clyde last week, which turned out to require a lot of work, and had a very optimistic price and had been for sale for 12 months. The broker was quite sensible and had advised the owner to drop the price, which he refused to do. The broker's view was that the market was very slow.

 

[mrming]

Imo, slowing further, but the exception is still well priced, 32 foot + boats with good accommodation, in top condition. I've seen a number of these shift very quickly over the last couple of months. I only follow the market up to £100k GBP, so don't know much about what's happening above that level.

 

[Irish Rover]

Popped into my email today. I know little about sailboat prices but this seems good value for a 2019 boat and based on personal experience this branch of Sunsail generally present their boats in good nick.

 

[Tranona]

Not especially cheap. VAT paid several around 200k euros in France and Italy. other ex charter similar or cheaper - even very "cheap" like this one uk.boats.com/sailing-boats/2019-beneteau-oceanis-41-1-9411551/

Sunsail tend to know their market and price their boats well.

 

[oldgit]

Around 12 + mobos recently for sale , probably representing 15% of the total boats on our moorings.
Three went very quickly indeed , an absolute minter asking and getting top money plus a couple of well priced but nice clean sound boats, owners boats all quitting the hobby.
One or two very very optimistic asking prices indeed on a couple of the other boats, the rest reflecting the state of the market today.
Had a conversation with somebody in the trade and got the impression that the market is very quiet, volume and size of commissions well down this year.
As most sellers will know if you bring your boat round to the Brokers "sales pontoon" a period of "free" mooring is on offer until the boat is sold.
The broker has to pay for these moorings and was not exempt from a recent price increase from a well known marina company.

As an aside, scuttlebutt that one of the skippers of a boat allegedly for sale turned down an amazingly good offer, considered by some to have been worthy of ripping off the buyers arm, suggests that some boats are not really for sale.

 

[benjenbav]

Not especially cheap. VAT paid several around 200k euros in France and Italy. other ex charter similar or cheaper - even very "cheap" like this one uk.boats.com/sailing-boats/2019-beneteau-oceanis-41-1-9411551/

Sunsail tend to know their market and price their boats well.

Given that they are pricing a 2019 boat on an “ex VAT” basis, does that mean they actually own it?

I thought their business model was for individuals to buy the boats and effectively lease them into the company’s fleet for X years.

Perhaps I’m wrong about that and the individuals put up capital, but the boat buying and management are organised by the company and at the end of X years the individual had an option either to take ownership or the company sells the boat into the wider market?

Or perhaps there’s a mixed model?

Just idle curiosity really.

 

[benjenbav]

Well presented and well priced boats are selling quickly again, now winter is finally over. Ive taken 5 deposits on boats this week, all listed in the past month.

Still plenty of overpriced boats on the market still dreaming of covid pricing. Some have got realistic and buyers are snapping them up.

Steering clear of politics, the phenomenon of “Covid pricing” interests me. In saying that, I entirely accept that it was real and that boat prices did indeed shoot up.

The trite answer is, of course, ‘supply and demand’.

But what underlies that?

I remember the onset of the pandemic as a time when people were fearful for their jobs, their health and, indeed, their lives and against that backdrop why would people pay more for something they really don’t need in any sense other than as a source of enjoyment?

Perhaps folk had spare cash because they couldn’t spend it on holidays, given that the airlines weren’t flying and hotels were largely closed. Similarly with other spending that couldn’t be done - concert tickets etc.

Perhaps, the idea of a boat where one could stay in a protective bubble but get away from home was appealing?

Or was it FOMO - ‘If I’m going to die sooner than I want, I’m going to have that thing that I didn’t think I could afford because what’s the point of money in the bank when I’m 6 feet under’?

 

[justanothersailboat]

Any statistically reasonable person under the age of 80 can't have been in much fear. Maybe boat buyers are, despite all the evidence of boat depreciation, more numerate than average?

 

[Tranona]

Given that they are pricing a 2019 boat on an “ex VAT” basis, does that mean they actually own it?

I thought their business model was for individuals to buy the boats and effectively lease them into the company’s fleet for X years.

Perhaps I’m wrong about that and the individuals put up capital, but the boat buying and management are organised by the company and at the end of X years the individual had an option either to take ownership or the company sells the boat into the wider market?

Or perhaps there’s a mixed model?

Just idle curiosity really.

Varies. Some are wholly owned but most are owned by individuals under a management contract. The entity that owns the boat and operates it will be VAT registered and therefore reclaim the VAT. At the end of the contract the beneficial owner can either take the boat or the operator will sell it, charging VAT on the sales value unless the buyer is non resident and therefore does not have to pay EU VAT. So potentially attractive to UK buyers wanting a boat based in the Med. not quite simple as they still need to comply with TA rules, although in Greece and Croatia that is not a real hardship.

I bought my first Bavaria in Greece through one of these contracts. Paid half the non VAT price up front, got 6 years of holidays and at the end paid VAT on the other half.