Have you noticed that selling a boat is really difficult at the moment?

ylop said:
I'm not sure ebay would be my benchmark for how the market is moving. It wouldn't be my go-to place to buy or sell anything bigger than a dinghy unless I just wanted shot of it.
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For £20 always worth a try. ?
Would not write off Ebay so quickly, recent sale was a boat a tad under £49K and the previous boat sold on Ebay at around £30K, about 7 years ago.
The downside is shed loads of timewasters. :(
Preapared to use a broker if all else fails. Did eventually put a previous boat on with a broker who unfortunately was unable to find buyer, re-advertised the boat privately over a Bank Holiday weekend , four instant inquires and the second viewer bought the boat.
Boat paid for the following day but purchaser did not collect it until about 2 weeks later, it went up to the Norfolk Broads.
 
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Sunsail has just reduced the price of a 5 year old Leopard 43 PC for sale in Croatia from €450k to €425k. The boat is still on charter and not available until the end of October. Is that a bargain - price reduced from grossly extortionate to very extortionate.
 
DangerousPirate said:
No bids or in the low hundreds for boats by far worth more. I just scrolled a couple of pages and the vast majority of boats have zero bids or are around the 300 pounds mark despite being up many days now. I have seen plenty relisted boats that keep popping up again.

Is this because of recession? Or what is happening this summer?
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Even if you quadrupled your £300 you are still talking about a heap of old junk. How many are there out there daft enough in current times who want to saddle themselves with such a thing.
A month ago a chap at our club sold his 33ft cruising cat within 14 days for very near asking price. No survey chap sailed it away within 3 weeks.
Another mentioned his excellent Drascombe was for sale & it was gone almost imediately.
Last year my Phantom was put up at £3500 & sold within 2 days for £3200. ( I was happy as it was going to a chap who would support the class) Try getting one if one does not act quickly, even now
 
Daydream believer said:
Even if you quadrupled your £300 you are still talking about a heap of old junk. How many are there out there daft enough in current times who want to saddle themselves with such a thing.
A month ago a chap at our club sold his 33ft cruising cat within 14 days for very near asking price. No survey chap sailed it away within 3 weeks.
Another mentioned his excellent Drascombe was for sale & it was gone almost imediately.
Last year my Phantom was put up at £3500 & sold within 2 days for £3200. ( I was happy as it was going to a chap who would support the class) Try getting one if one does not act quickly, even now
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You don't even know which boats I am talking about, so your diagnoses is a little odd from so far away..

And last year is last year.. I was asking about this year in particular. Think you missed the topic a little and you are out looking for arguments.
 
Taliesin said:
Many boats were bought during covid, a solitary or family unit activity that didn’t involve flying or staying in a hotel. I’m told by a broker that quite a few of these are now coming to market again as restrictions are now over. Also money tight with rising inflation and continual talk of recession results in plenty of sellers but the buyers can’t be found.
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its been the same with lathes so many for sale and the markets flooded with items for sale as the cost of living bites. Although i prefer to I call it a cost of boat crisis.
 
Part of the problem is it cost the same for a berth for a new boat as a 30/'40 yr old one. Tends to weed out the cheap boats.
Local friend here keeps his 27ft in Rochefort. Great place, but only accessible at the top of the tide and a long river to the sea. So day sailing a bit tricky. He has being waiting for a berth in La Rochelle, in and out at almost any tide state. But long list.
So, he might sell and get a trailer/sailer
The price for La R is nearly twice the Rochefort one. Lot less than UK, but a 29ft was paying €1300 pa last year in LR (or was it €2300...) must check.
 
DangerousPirate said:
You don't even know which boats I am talking about, so your diagnoses is a little odd from so far away..

And last year is last year.. I was asking about this year in particular. Think you missed the topic a little and you are out looking for arguments.
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I did not think Bradwell so far from the Medway
No,I do not know which boats you are looking for- But you seem to have failed to tell us so I am not sure how one should know. Not being clairvoyant :rolleyes:
My comment about the Phantom was that there was little change in availability. You must have missed that in your wish to comment adversely. Possibly £3000 is well out of the price range in topic. I would have expected there should be loads of stuff at the bottom of the chain. You only have to look younr sailing clubs for dumped boats where members have left leaving their boats ( cruisers & dinghies) for others to dispose of. They can range in price from near zero to a liability
 
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Daydream believer said:
I did not think Bradwell so far from the Medway
No,I do not know which boats you are looking for- But you seem to have failed to tell us so I am not sure how one should know. Not being clairvoyant :rolleyes:
My comment about the Phantom was that there was little change in availability. You must have missed that in your wish to comment adversely. Possibly £3000 is well out of the price range in topic. I would have expected there should be loads of stuff at the bottom of the chain. You only have to look younr sailing clubs for dumped boats where members have left leaving their boats ( cruisers & dinghies) for others to dispose of. They can range in price from near zero to a liability
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I was not even talking about specific boats, I am just seeing on ebay how boats sell (or not sell), and throughout the past 2 years, since I am watching, I see nice boats and shitty boat getting bids, except now. Very many boats aren't getting any bids at all, or well below their worth (from what is obvious at least). A boat that I would bet would go for 7-10k has bids of 300 and is stuck there? Bit odd. A westerly griffon keeps relisting for always around a buy now price of 4000gbp despite being in seemingly good condition?

That's the sort of thing I am talking about. It is a bit odd right now how the market is behaving, normally a griffon like that in good condition would get many bids and would sell in the first two times. Similar thing can be seen on FB marketplace. I don't know how it is for brokers or on other plattforms, but on Ebay and FB you can see the bids and which boats sell quite well.
 
Maybe the bargain basement end of the market has stalled because of the economic uncertainty and the expectation of soaring costs because of inflation meaning fewer buyers prepared to take on these boats. I have had my engine listed for 2 months now and not a single enquiry. Also listed on Apolloduck and only 3 enquiries one of which has actually bought, picking it up today. This was an engine that would appeal to a budget fixer -upper.

At the upper end potential buyers and sellers of higher value boats are in a different position. The market is holding up because there are fewer sellers so a shortage of boats, whereas at the bottom end there are more boats for sale than buyers.
 
Tranona said:
At the upper end potential buyers and sellers of higher value boats are in a different position. The market is holding up because there are fewer sellers so a shortage of boats, whereas at the bottom end there are more boats for sale than buyers.
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+1.
Judging from previous comments about boat sales most/all/many boats over £100K + are frequently cash purchases and doubt this will change much with interest rates still being next to rubbish.
You might even be better off investing in a desirable sort after boat as a neat tax free hedge against the forecast of 10% inflation.

Locally, you will have no trouble finding somewhere to keep your new acquisition, providing you are prepared to pay.
First possible buyer of my old boat went on about finding somewhere affordable to keep the boat.

Second viewer just bought the boat, then promptly nipped round to MDL Chatham and was instantly offered a choice of three berths.
Moved it round there the following day.
MDL are also offering some good deals to help spread the cost, which none of the smaller boat yards or marinas could match.
 
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Irish Rover said:
Sunsail has just reduced the price of a 5 year old Leopard 43 PC for sale in Croatia from €450k to €425k. The boat is still on charter and not available until the end of October. Is that a bargain - price reduced from grossly extortionate to very extortionate.
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Sunsail have, or at least did have, a slightly unusual marketing operation in that they will not budge on asking price but will correct any defects identified by a qualified surveyor. I watched them do a teak re-deck on a 40 footer in Greece for this purpose and the job seemed well done to my inexpert eye.
 
I suspect you have a collision of two factors here. Those who wanted to buy a boat during COVID bought one, sending demand through the roof and prices with it. As a result brokers, sellers etc are thinking values are higher, little competition so pitch high. The result of that is a bunch of higher priced boats that might still sell to those with higher incomes or who have a lump sum from sale of an asset ( a previous boat for example) but who haven't yet found the right one.

Against that you have a growing cost of living crisis. I read earlier that the pain is most felt in families with incomes of less than £42k p.a. These are ones that might buy the cheaper boats . They are feeling the pain tghrough higher bills and no large savings to fall back on so are not buying luxuries.

What happens next depends on the economy. If incomes further uop the food chain start dropping as dividends fall or company revenue dives then affordability will suffer. If we get a rubbish summer here, no covid restrictions on going abroad etc then expect to see a sudden glut of more expensive boats on the market.
 
DangerousPirate said:
If you go to ebay or elsewhere, where you can see offers and bids you see that many boats, even good ones, barely get any attention. No bids or in the low hundreds for boats by far worth more. I just scrolled a couple of pages and the vast majority of boats have zero bids or are around the 300 pounds mark despite being up many days now. I have seen plenty relisted boats that keep popping up again.

Is this because of recession? Or what is happening this summer?
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More and more people are using bidding apps to 'beat' the auction fever. So watching an item basically shows nothing.

Second - in the Buy it Now ... as with various Boat Sales sites ... many sellers have a grossly overinflated idea of the boats value.

For latter part of 2021 and through 2022 ... I have been involved with a couple of buyers .... trying to find boats suitable. The points noted :

1. UK has a healthy choice of boats but prices are higher than non UK.
2. Covid appeared to depress boat prices - but soon prices started to climb as spring approached
3. Noted quite a few boats at xxxx price ... then off market ... then back on at significantly higher price !!
4. The proliferation of 'Reduced price' tags on adverts ... but prices still OTT.
but
5. Sensibly priced boats presented properly - appeared to sell.
 
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I'm seeing the opposite. It's a sellers market - at least at the 50-80k flybridge level.

Boats appear to have ignored a few years of depreciation for one and instead put about 20% or more on. Many 80s boats of the 35-42' size are coming in at 90k+.

And folks are buying them so far.

One boat at Upton, we watched change from 68995 to 74999 once it arrived at the marina!

In 2006 we bought a decent, somewhat rare, 46' aft cabin flybridge powles for £85k

Try getting a broadly equivalent boat at the same age for a similar price now. ??
Add 50k and maybe? If you can beat the queue.

Been looking fairly hard (we ain't in the slightest bit rushed mind) for a month now and, well, I can only speak from what I've seen but it looks insane right now for buyers at the 50-80k mark.

At least on fly bridge ones.

I'm inclined to wait till deepest darkest winter, or just before anyway and see if any covid "just bought a puppy" effect boats turn up. Yknow ones where folks didn't quite get the spreadsheets out and calculate their costs :P.

Maybe with Brexit, hence vat on boats from abroad, and a long term shortage, these seemingly crazy price levels will stay the norm for years. Wish I'd a working crystal ball!
 
jac said:
I suspect you have a collision of two factors here. Those who wanted to buy a boat during COVID bought one, sending demand through the roof and prices with it. As a result brokers, sellers etc are thinking values are higher, little competition so pitch high. The result of that is a bunch of higher priced boats that might still sell to those with higher incomes or who have a lump sum from sale of an asset ( a previous boat for example) but who haven't yet found the right one.

Against that you have a growing cost of living crisis. I read earlier that the pain is most felt in families with incomes of less than £42k p.a. These are ones that might buy the cheaper boats . They are feeling the pain tghrough higher bills and no large savings to fall back on so are not buying luxuries.

What happens next depends on the economy. If incomes further uop the food chain start dropping as dividends fall or company revenue dives then affordability will suffer. If we get a rubbish summer here, no covid restrictions on going abroad etc then expect to see a sudden glut of more expensive boats on the market.
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I can only hope your very last sentence turns out true!
 
SoulFireMage said:
I'm seeing the opposite. It's a sellers market - at least at the 50-80k flybridge level
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That is the point made earlier by other posters. The original post was based more on the eBay budget end of the market where a few months ago almost anything was selling but not now as rising costs are hitting hard.

£85k is a substantial investment and running costs are not that much different from a boat the fraction of the price, whereas at the bottom end the ongoing repair and running are out of all proportion to the purchase price.
 
Tranona said:
That is the point made earlier by other posters. The original post was based more on the eBay budget end of the market where a few months ago almost anything was selling but not now as rising costs are hitting hard.

£85k is a substantial investment and running costs are not that much different from a boat the fraction of the price, whereas at the bottom end the ongoing repair and running are out of all proportion to the purchase price.
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Aye - and 85k got you a decent 46' boat about 28 years old in 2006.

Doesnt now.

Interesting point on the running costs vs initial outlay though.
 
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