Stubbornly high inflation and interest rates, the ongoing war in Ukraine and a new conflict in the Middle East, plus growing concerns over China’s sluggish economic performance - it has been another difficult year for the global economy with slower growth.
Following its strong post-pandemic recovery, the superyacht industry has seen a cooling in this economic context. “The market has certainly slowed down compared to recent years,” says Benjamin Bensahel, European head of sales and brokerage at Camper & Nicholsons. “We are seeing more and more yachts that were bought in the past three years coming back onto the market. This is resulting in a lot of price reductions on yachts already listed for sale. We have clearly shifted into a buyers’ market.”
Inflation and continued supply chain bottlenecks have also had an impact as builders and brokers weigh how much of these rising costs to pass on to clients. Yet it’s not all doom and gloom. As ever, it is important to bear in mind that ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) are generally more resilient to high interest rates than less affluent households and accustomed to significant fluctuations in their net worth. There were 243,000 UHNWIs globally which defines a “UHNWI” as having net wealth of more than $50 million. Yet there are four times as many such individuals globally than there were in 2008.
