Sailing boat market - UK
Discussion
jinkster said:
Has anyone noticed the boat market has slowed down and new listings not appearing? Is it because of winter or something else....
What size boat/ rough value are you looking at?There may be a decline of lower value yachts on yachtworld (and other Boats group websites) as advertising costs have rocketed over the past couple of years so brokers are cutting out the lower value listings on those sites.
The market was slow in December, but we've seen very positive activity since Christmas. We had a lot of new listings come on in October/ November which is typical as sellers have enjoyed their summer season and want to offload the boat before the winter costs come in.
With a little more info I may be able to shed some light on the specific market you are looking at.
It will partly be the time of year.
If you wanted to buy a boat and get it sorted for the 2026 'season', you needed to be looking before September and closing a deal by November, to get work done by the end of March.
The new season of 'it's sunny let's buy a boat' hasn't started yet and will be subdued by the poor weather this winter.
On top of that, the market is still recovering from the effects of covid, interest rates, the economy generally, brexit and all sorts.
Some boats are still hard to find. Some people still have money to spend. The market for shiny BenJenBavs is very different from old Westerly or well-used live-aboard boats.
If you wanted to buy a boat and get it sorted for the 2026 'season', you needed to be looking before September and closing a deal by November, to get work done by the end of March.
The new season of 'it's sunny let's buy a boat' hasn't started yet and will be subdued by the poor weather this winter.
On top of that, the market is still recovering from the effects of covid, interest rates, the economy generally, brexit and all sorts.
Some boats are still hard to find. Some people still have money to spend. The market for shiny BenJenBavs is very different from old Westerly or well-used live-aboard boats.
OutInTheShed said:
Some boats are still hard to find. Some people still have money to spend. The market for shiny BenJenBavs is very different from old Westerly or well-used live-aboard boats.
Indeed. One type of boat I was considering had 5 available at the beginning of October - all went by early January bar the very overpriced one which ironically was the worst of the bunch. I got a very small reduction on what I've gone for - but the seller knew he had the upper hand and it had only just been listed. A Najad 373/ HR36. Aft cabin under 12m LOA. Around £120k.
Audis5b9 said:
What size boat/ rough value are you looking at?
There may be a decline of lower value yachts on yachtworld (and other Boats group websites) as advertising costs have rocketed over the past couple of years so brokers are cutting out the lower value listings on those sites.
The market was slow in December, but we've seen very positive activity since Christmas. We had a lot of new listings come on in October/ November which is typical as sellers have enjoyed their summer season and want to offload the boat before the winter costs come in.
With a little more info I may be able to shed some light on the specific market you are looking at.
There may be a decline of lower value yachts on yachtworld (and other Boats group websites) as advertising costs have rocketed over the past couple of years so brokers are cutting out the lower value listings on those sites.
The market was slow in December, but we've seen very positive activity since Christmas. We had a lot of new listings come on in October/ November which is typical as sellers have enjoyed their summer season and want to offload the boat before the winter costs come in.
With a little more info I may be able to shed some light on the specific market you are looking at.
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