A version of this story is expected to appear in Trade Only Daily, on December 8th.
Given the economic conditions in the fall of 2008, it’s no surprise that sales look better in fall 2009, but the gains reported in SoldBoats.com for November by YachtWorld.com member brokers were dramatic. Unit sales increased 60 percent from 1191 to 1908 boats, and for the first month all year, valuations were up even more than unit sales—80 percent, on sales of $222 million. Through 11 months of the year, unit sales have drawn nearly even with 2008 (down less than 1 percent) and valuations are down only 17.6 percent.Powerboat sales have driven the improved market for a number of months and compared to the previous year, unit sales in November rose 70 percent, to 1460 boats, while yacht brokers sold 36 percent more sailboats, 448 total. Increases in valuation were even more notable as powerboat sales were up 72 percent to $175 million. Sailboat sales did even better on a percentage basis, climbing 118 percent, more than doubling from $22 million to $48 million compared to the previous November.
Every size category showed increased year-over-year sales in November, including the larger sizes which lagged until recently. Unit sales of boats over 55 feet increased 68 percent, and for boats 46 to 55 feet, more than twice as many boats were sold (130 compared to 62 a year ago). Year to date, sailboat unit sales of 4973 are still down by more than 1000 boats or 18 percent, while powerboat unit sales of over 20,000 boats represent an increase of nearly 1000 boats.
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