326 yachts sold for USD 3.51bn, and the average deal rose a quarter
Fewer deals, and a bigger cheque behind each one
The half-year figures published by Northrop & Johnson on 16 July put 326 pre-owned yachts sold between January and June, against 354 a year earlier. Total value went the other way, from USD 3.05bn to USD 3.51bn. That leaves an average sale near USD 10.8m, roughly a quarter higher than last year. Volume was flat across both quarters at 160 boats, so the shift is in what sold rather than how often.
Motoryachts carried almost all of it. That side of the market accounted for USD 3.44bn, up 18 per cent year on year. Sailing yachts fell hard, to USD 79.5m, a drop of 47 per cent. An owner reading only the headline count would conclude the market softened; the money says it concentrated, and it concentrated in larger motoryachts.
Asking prices came down while deal values went up
Supply arrived steadily. There were 696 new central agency listings in the first half, 2.8 per cent more than last year, and 1,117 price reductions, up 5.9 per cent. The reductions were front-loaded: 594 in the first quarter at an average cut of USD 1.7m, then 487 in the second at an average of USD 1.4m. Sellers who came to market in January have had six months to find their level.
The average asking price of newly listed boats fell from USD 13.6m in the first quarter to USD 9.9m in the second, a change in the mix rather than a collapse in values, since smaller boats came to market later in the period. The practical reading for a seller is unchanged from the spring: the yachts that closed were priced against this year's comparables, not against a 2022 memory. Moonrise, the 99.9m Feadship, sold after 159 days at a last asking price of EUR 325m, roughly the pace a correctly priced boat now runs at.
What is on the market, and how old it is
At 1 July there were 2,157 pre-owned yachts for sale, which the brokerage puts at 17 per cent of the global fleet, carrying USD 18.8bn of asking value. Motoryachts made up 1,891 of them, or 87.6 per cent, against 266 sailing yachts at 12.4 per cent. That is a deep shelf of inventory by any measure, and it is the pool a private seller is competing inside.
The average age of the boats newly listed in the period is 16 years. For an owner holding a hull from the early 2010s, that is the crowd he is standing in, and it explains why refit condition and survey history are doing more work in negotiations than they did two years ago. A boat of that vintage with a documented refit reads as a different asset from an identical hull without one.
The delivery book thins sharply after this year
There were 936 yachts under construction at 1 July, at an average of 578 gross tons. The schedule shows 466 due for delivery in 2026, against 411 handed over across the whole of 2025, then 301 in 2027, 121 in 2028 and 39 in 2029. Those later years are contracts signed to date rather than a forecast, so they will fill as slots sell. The shape still matters: this year is the peak of a wave ordered three and four years ago.
The wider count points the same way. BOAT International's Global Order Book for 2026 lists 1,093 yachts of 24 metres and above on order or in build, down from 1,138, a second consecutive annual fall by unit, while average length has risen to 40.8 metres and 551 gross tons, the highest recorded. New-build sales in the half came to 142 against 177 last year. Italy holds 519 of the boats in build across 41 active yards. Seven yachts over 100 metres were handed over in the half, the largest Deep Blue, a 134.2m Lurssen delivered in January.
Charter ran the other way
Charter is the one line that grew on volume. Departures in the second quarter reached 2,884 against 2,059 a year earlier, a rise of 40.1 per cent. Across the half, charter starts were up 36.1 per cent and days booked up 42.6 per cent. Bookings taken in April to June slipped, 3,390 against 3,589, so more boats went out on contracts placed earlier or placed very late.
The late end of that is the striking part: 36.7 per cent of second-quarter activity was booked in the same month or the one before it. The Mediterranean took 81.1 per cent of second-quarter starts. An owner weighing a charter programme can take the yield as real, but the calendar no longer fills in March. It fills in the fortnight before, which is a different conversation to have with a central agent.