What is the yacht sales market doing?

Zagato

Zagato

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I have been out of touch with it for a couple of years and noticed five Heard 28's for sale at 30 -35K :eek: You were lucky if one came up for sale 5 years ago and they were 40K plus. A yacht broker in Falmouth said the market is very slow, even the top end stuff. No one is buying or selling, prices are being haggled right down. Same with motorbikes it appears, most are buying those on PCP's knocking the second hand market.

Lovely sunny day in Chichester harbour today and only a few boats out :eek: How things can change in ten years...
 
Good time to buy and get out there then :D? Have to admit I have not sailed for 18 months, motor biking has taken over! Instant social fun in comparison but I must get the family back on the water in the little Drascombe. No harm done has it sits on its trailer at home. A Heard for 30 K though... Nice!
 
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Minn said:
I think sailing is quietly dying. Slowly the numbers of unused mooring buoys are increasing.
Click to expand...
Agree, when i stared they were deadmans shoes, with very long waiting lists. Today folk dont want to row to & fro, just step ashore, travel marina > marina, that is if they ever venture out & hardly ever use an anchor
 
Minn said:
I think sailing is quietly dying. Slowly the numbers of unused mooring buoys are increasing.
Click to expand...
Basically just given my 40 year old sailing boat away and many boats still ashore up for sale with no takers,those that can afford Yachting go for bigger boats and the rest are selling up or managing to survive with no new young people interested.
 
Wansworth said:
Basically just given my 40 year old sailing boat away and many boats still ashore up for sale with no takers,those that can afford Yachting go for bigger boats and the rest are selling up or managing to survive with no new young people interested.
Click to expand...

Was in S, Brittany a few weeks ago. Heaving with yachts. We arrived from a very busy Horta.
Last week saw the Solent in full flow too.
 
Zagato said:
I have been out of touch with it for a couple of years and noticed five Heard 28's for sale at 30 -35K :eek: You were lucky if one came up for sale 5 years ago and they were 40K plus. A yacht broker in Falmouth said the market is very slow, even the top end stuff. No one is buying or selling, prices are being haggled right down. Same with motorbikes it appears, most are buying those on PCP's knocking the second hand market.

Lovely sunny day in Chichester harbour today and only a few boats out :eek: How things can change in ten years...
Click to expand...

£30k for a 40 year old 4 berth boat.
A lot of dosh in my view.
I don't think the asking price of special-interest boats tells us much about the run of the mill.
 
Old Harry said:
Agree, when i stared they were deadmans shoes, with very long waiting lists. Today folk dont want to row to & fro, just step ashore, travel marina > marina, that is if they ever venture out & hardly ever use an anchor
Click to expand...

And yet marinas seem full? And their prices aren’t exactly dropping. But yes I think the old fashioned type of sailing is dying. It’s a shame. But the good news is, so is golf
 
Owning a boat in a cool country seems to be dying away but sailing somewhere warm and hiring a boat seems more popular every year and the atmosphere of being surrounded by twenty somethings having a party each night then sailing off in the morning is really great to see and hear for the future of the hobby and a nice supply of cosmetically knackered boats at cheap prices.
 
gdallas said:
And yet marinas seem full? And their prices aren’t exactly dropping. But yes I think the old fashioned type of sailing is dying. It’s a shame. But the good news is, so is golf
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The MDL marinas that we frequent around the Solent most definitely do not seem full, we are thinking of moving next year and in contrast to what I recall from my father's time no availability restriction has yet come up in response to our enquiries. Agree with you about prices though (and golf ;-) )
 
Perhaps its a world wide Phenomenon. Here in Australia boats seem to sell for markedly cheaper prices than those asked for.
IF you can find a buyer.
As much as 30% or more. IF you can find a buyer
It'd be an interesting socio-economic study. The post war boom, the increasing affluence of the baby boomers, spare money, spare time. A luxury for everyman. Sort of. But that generation is fading and subsequent generations are both economically stretched just pursuing a place to live and far less interested in the sort of investment of money, time and identity that boats require.
I think the same might be said for the US where wages and standard of living hasn't risen since the 70's. 'There, but for fortune.'
The price of Marinas is an interesting one. Maybe boats will just become a preserve of the rich? Maybe Marinas will have to drop their prices? I think that poster, Minn, who said it was dying is probably correct. Wonder what they'll repurpose the marinas as?
As for RupertW's point about the temperature. I have difficulty understanding how there are so many boats in the UK when your good weather is so... 'limited'. What a hardy lot you must be.
I think i read about 15 years ago that Bob Dylan had taken up golf.
 
Minn said:
I think sailing is quietly dying. Slowly the numbers of unused mooring buoys are increasing.
Click to expand...

At Port Bannatyne (Clyde) where I am based, fewer than 1/3 of mooring buoys are occupied. There are a few of us still waiting to launch, but even ten years ago the bay would have been crammed by now. But then, who in their right minds sails their own boat in Britain when for less money they could sail someone else's in Croatia?
 
...and the so called 'younger' generations are, in their own words, 'time poor'. No longer can the sneak of early on a Friday for a weekend's cruise.
 
Well our club obviously didn't get the memo; our expanded moorings in Chichester Harbour are very near full, a first as there have usually been a few spare moorings all the 42 years I've been a member, and we have new young cruiser owners as well as a thriving Junior section.
 
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