Brokerage performance 2018 vs 2019
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the brokerage market is performing poorly, do the figures confirm this?
According to various market commentators the brokerage market, when compared to 2018, is performing poorly. In order to prove, or indeed disprove this hypothesis, The Superyacht Agency has crunched the numbers. According to the data, there have been nine fewer deliveries in 2019, from 1 January ending 31 May, when compared to the first five months of 2018. However, this does not necessarily tell the whole story.
In 2018, there had been 97 30m-plus units sold by the close of May, in 2019 this figure has fallen to 88, representing a 9.3 per cent decrease in activity. Additionally, April has proved to be the only month thus far in 2019 that has outperformed 2018 in terms of unitary sales, selling 17 vessels rather than 15.
The first two months of 2019 proved to be particularly poor comparatively. In January 2019 the total sales value of the sold fleet (€85,129,660) was 39 per cent less than that of 2018 (€138,961,110). In February 2018 there were 28 superyachts sold, whereas in February 2019 there was only 14 sales. The eight vessels decline in February alone nearly accounts for the total unitary sales decline in 2019 of nine, with the other vessel being accounted for by the January performance.
However, as the year has progressed, there has been an equal amount of sales from March until the end of May with 60 units sold in both 2018 and 2019 across this period. By stark contrast, the total sales figures for 2019, in terms of monetary value, have far outstripped 2018. In 2019 so far, there has been €1,204,087,882 of sales, representing a 64 per cent increase in sales when compared against 2018’s €734,597,137. This vast increase in sales value is clearly highlighted in March, April and May.
That being said, this vast increase in sales value has much to do with the sale of four vessels in particular. Cloud 9, Equanimity, Excellence V and Areti were sold in 2019 with a combined value of €440,424,140. Interestingly, these four major sales have happened across a single brokerage houses, and one governmental body. As such, the positive impact of the sales has not been felt across the market. Cloud 9, Excellence V and Areti were all sold by Burgess, with Burgess also having a major hand in the sale of Equanimity by the Malaysian government.
In order to highlight the impact that the sales have had on the market’s overall statistics, an additional column has been added to the graph above that highlights what the market’s performance looks like without the Burgess and Frasers’ four major sales. This may go some way towards explaining why certain factions of the market feel as though the brokerage industry is performing poorly.
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