SUMMER 2025 MARKET UPDATE

People probably say this every year but it seems mad that we are already half way through 2025 – time is flying by but I guess that’s a product of

30 June 2025

People probably say this every year but it seems mad that we are already half way through 2025 – time is flying by but I guess that’s a product of working in a busy office. Really that is the overall conclusion of our Market Update for the first half of this year – the market is active but with some heavy caveats. Apart from selling lots of boats, we can see that visits to our website are up significantly along with increased numbers of enquiries. In a way though a lot of what we saw in 2024 is still the case. The market (and sellers) is still re-calibrating to the post-Covid realities where sale prices are much lower but the prices of maintenance, mooring fees etc. won’t follow suit in being reduced. We are often asked whether the price of fuel is a factor in slowing down the market, particularly for power boats, and we don’t believe it is. Fuel prices at the forecourts are still higher than pre-Covid years but not much more than 2018/2019 averages. The highest prices were in 2022 when the market was at its most active conversely but analysing any trends during that time is probably counter-productive.

We are seeing a strong split in the market between sail and power. The market for day boats i.e. speed boats, bowriders is particularly slow at the moment and we are putting that down to a lack of spare disposable income for individuals who might look to splash some cash and buy a boat. Cost of living and higher interest rates as well as higher costs for going on holiday, tied to the aforementioned increased costs of storage and maintenance, are leaving people with less money to spend on “luxuries”, which a boat certainly is. Weirdly, this doesn’t seem to be affecting the yachts as much but we think sailors view their boat as more of a “necessity”, than a “luxury” and will find the money no matter what! The bigger and more expensive motor cruisers are faring much better with things selling quickly if they are in good condition and priced appropriately (more on that below). Our belief is that this sector is less affected by macro-economic headwinds and are still happy/able to make those big purchases. There are also the first signs of a phenomenon that we predicted might occur where people would rather spend the money and enjoy it than risk it being handed over to the Treasury in the future. This might also explain why we have sold more new boats in 2025 already than the whole of 2024.

We are happy to report though that the market for sailing yachts is good. Boats are selling quickly (again with our caveat of being put on the market at the appropriate price) and there is demand through the budget ranges. We do think it’s slightly slower in the sub-£10k bracket probably because of the higher storage costs and a large number of boats on the market at the moment in this category. What we are seeing though is that, like 2024, the boats that are “ready to go” sell quickest and boats that need the rigging replaced or an engine service are still selling but the offers come in lower. Buyers can still afford to be fussy with plenty of choice on the market. However, in the last few months we have had an increasing number of disappointed buyers who took their time and missed out because someone else jumped in ahead of them with an offer. A clear sign of an improving market is competition for boats.

If you are thinking of selling in the next few years, we think it’s worth getting any major work done now so you can enjoy the benefit yourselves out on the water and then when you come to sell, you should receive a better offer than if the boat still needed the investment. Standing Rigging needs replacing every 15 years as stipulated by insurance companies.

As I alluded to above, getting a valuation right is more important than ever. We are really focused on putting boats onto the market at the “right” price, rather than telling vendors what they want to hear as we can see the trends and the data. We spend a lot of time in the office discussing the market and this is bearing fruit in the boats that we have sold this year. They were priced correctly for the current market and sold quickly, often in the first couple of weeks.

We are now starting to prepare for our Used Boat Shows in October and if you are selling or buying, these are brilliant events to be a part of and will help us in identifying any new trends in the market.