photo contest - Yacht Essentials

STRENGTH
OF THE
USED YACHT
MARKET
The sale of a superyacht was once a relatively
quick transaction. After all, in the dot.com era
and beyond, there seemed to be no shortage
of newly-minted multimillionaires eager to
own the ultimate status symbol: a big flashy yacht. Older
moneyed folks were happy to oblige, putting their play
toys on the market as fast as their new and bigger builds
were launched.
Today, the tide has turned.
Bob Offer, the Ft. Lauderdale-based senior broker for
Denison Yacht Sales, recounted a scenario indicative of
the direction of this turn. “There’s a 200-foot, high-qual-
The VAS submarine
ity yacht built in the mid-1990s that the owner put on
the market in early 2010 for $80 million. He received an
offer of $48 million from a buyer in the Middle East and
countered with $70 million. He never heard back from
the potential buyer. A year later, he hasn’t had any takers
and he’s dropped the price to $55 million.”
Yes, it is indeed a buyer’s market. But why? What makes
now such a great time to buy a pre-owned superyacht?
“There’s never been more inventory, and more inventory
drives prices down,” said Mark Elliot, St. Maarten- and
Ft. Lauderdale-based broker for International Yacht Collection
(IYC). “No matter how you look at it, per ton of
steel or weight of aluminium, there’s currently some of
the best pricing on used superyachts that we’ve seen in
a long time. It’s all about supply and demand.”
20 YACHT ESSENTIALS
Spotlight
BY CAROL M. BAREUTHER