Bigger, new-build superyachts selling despite market downturn
Boats in the 30 metre-plus bracket and multihulls are bucking the post-pandemic dip in sales
The wind may be subsiding in the sailing superyacht market as trading swings back to pre-Covid levels, but sales of new mega-yachts and innovative vessels with eco-credentials are rising fast.
Strong post-pandemic activity, boosted by low borrowing costs and stable inflation, has trailed off overall. According to the latest market report by the SuperYacht Times, sailing yacht sales fell 12 per cent in 2024 compared with 2023. Motor yachts dipped 2 per cent in the same period.
“Covid kind of upset all of the normal patterns,” says Tim Langmead, yacht broker at Fraser in London. “We are part of many industries that saw a boom for 24 months [after the pandemic]. Everywhere, from the east coast of America [to the] Middle East, Australia and definitely the Mediterranean . . . people spent their saved money, whether it was [on] a car, a holiday home or a boat.”
Boat prices soared up to 25 per cent in that period, says Langmead. “It was very much a rare set of circumstances that made that happen and now we’re back to sort of a pre-Covid normality.”
The last “anomalous” year was 2023, according to Italian sailing magazine Giornale della Vela, when the pandemic boosted sales and drove shipyards to produce “too many boats” which have not yet been sold.
Among the worst-hit boatbuilders was Beneteau Group of France. Revenues in the sailing segment — which accounts for 49 per cent of the group total and includes the Beneteau, Jeanneau, Lagoon, Excess, Prestige, Four Winns, Wellcraft, Scarab and Delphia brands — dropped more than a quarter to €495.9mn in 2024, down from €674.5mn in 2023, a record year for sales at the group.
In the group’s 2024 annual report chief executive Bruno Thivoyon said: “It is when boat markets are down that launching new models and new ranges will enable solid operators to bounce back.”
Sales of 30 metre-plus new-build sailing yachts are bucking the downward trend in the superyacht market. According to data from the SuperYacht Times, sales of new sailing yachts measuring between 30 and 40 metres were up 70 per cent last year.
“There were a lot of buyers [of new models] sitting on the fence for some time,” says Ralph Dazert, head of intelligence at SYT. “Sailing yacht buyers can be sort of very serious people who really know what they want, and they take their time. And then last year the available build slots were starting to run out so . . . a lot of people finally bit the bullet.”
According to Dazert, the jump is partly due to sales in the top segment of mega-yachts drying up in 2022 and 2023 after the withdrawal of Russian buyers following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The emergence of wealthy US buyers, he adds, has breathed fresh air into the segment although, he warns, “it might prove to be a challenge to replicate the same success in 2025”.
Superyacht brokers say that overall, while large sailing yachts have enjoyed a bumper year, the gap in market share between motor and sailing yachts — currently 85 per cent versus 15 per cent, according to the SuperYacht Times — is deepening, with sailing vessels losing ground to motor-powered alternatives. “The fleet of motor yachts is growing faster than the fleet of sailing yachts . . . although both groups are growing in absolute terms,” says Dazert.
According to data from the Business Research Company, the global sailboat market reached $6.35bn in 2024, with North America accounting for the largest share, and is expected to hit $7.46bn by 2029, driven by innovation in sailboat design broadening the appeal to novice sailors.
Analysts believe the estimates are driven by an emerging cohort of younger buyers who are challenging the established clientele, which Dazert describes as “slightly older people, mostly men from . . . Italy, but also Brits, northern Europeans [and] Americans buying fast sailing boats to compete in regattas”.
Leisure sailors, who don’t sail competitively, historically have found motorboats more pleasant for cruising, thanks to the stability offered by a larger hull. But as new buyers show a keen interest in comfortable cruising on spacious vessels, demand for catamarans has grown.
Globally, sales of sailing catamarans more than doubled in the year to 2024, according to the SuperYacht Times, accounting for a third of total sailing yacht sales. In 2024 Finnish yard Baltic Yachts began building its first catamaran — a 33-metre multihull named Baltic 107.
More clients at yacht brokerage Northrop & Johnson are leaning towards environmentally cleaner and greener yachting, says Sean McCarter, a broker in the company’s Mallorca office. Catamarans are particularly popular, he adds: “These vessels are increasingly leading the sailing yacht industry thanks to their versatility, offering . . . the ability to balance adventure with comfort seamlessly.”