Denison Yachting: Q3 sales drop, but market resilient
Yacht sales in the third quarter (Q3) of this year have dropped 10% compared with last year, but the industry is still on track for a healthy year overall, according to Denison Yachting’s Q3 2022 Market Report.
Economic uncertainty and supply chain constraints led to a challenging Q3 but the industry still demonstrated “remarkable resilience”, with overall sales numbers just 9% below pre-pandemic levels in Q3 2019, said the report. This highlights that the challenges the market has faced have “yet to do much damage to demand”.
Luxury yacht charters performed strongly in the quarter as many potential customers postponed their purchase decisions in favour of short-term rental options. For the year so far, luxury yacht charters have increased by a fifth (20%) compared with 2021. Denison said it expects the number of people chartering yachts to grow in Q4 and beyond, driven by experienced clients and first-time charterers.
Across North America, Europe and Asia, overall yacht sales dropped in comparison with Q3 last year. In the US, sales were 9.5% lower overall, but the report indicated that the Southeast, Gulf Coast, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions remained dominant for the third consecutive Q3. The Southeast region achieved the most sales (3,311) while the West Coast made the least with 799. The only region with higher sales than Q3 2021 was the Great Lakes, with 1,504 sales.
Yacht sales were 11% lower in the European hotspots of France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands than in Q3 2021. Asia saw an even bigger drop of 19%, with customers in China, Japan and Singapore buying fewer yachts than in any third quarter since 2015.
Denison said it expects performance to mirror pre-pandemic levels for another quarter. The company said: “Considering the challenges the industry has faced this year, being able to sustain pre-pandemic numbers gives us hope for more robust performance in 2023 and beyond.”
Denison Yachting Q3 Market Report – at a glance
- Global yacht sales down 10% since Q3 2021, down 30% since Q3 2020
- North American yacht sales down 9.5% since Q3 2021
- European yacht sales dropped 11% since Q3 2021
- Asia dropped 19% in sales since Q3 2021
- Luxury yacht charter up 20% in first three quarters of this year compared to 2021
Subscribe to our free newsletter
For more opinions from Superyacht Investor, subscribe to our email newsletter.
