Boat sales and COVID

It's no secret that boat sales in all price ranges have soared since the COVID outbreak. I'm looking in the $500K-$1M and my broker says he's having his best year ever in that range.

When the reality of boat ownership sets in, how long will it take before people who just bought boats will be selling them?

Right now it's a seller's market with low inventory. When do you think that will shift to a buyer's market?

Hoping soon

It’s funny, we get these threads fairly frequently...


When will boat prices go down???

My opinion is that boat prices do not move all that much in the overall scheme of things due to general market conditions.

Yes we did see an anomaly in the 2008-2010 era but that was a real anomaly in that we had both a severe tightening of the available credit market, along with a serious economic downturn. Those two things were actually tied to one thing, the banking collapse which removed the availability of money from the marketplace. That in my opinion was a once in a lifetime event.

Short of that happening, my opinion is you are not going to see a sudden significant downturn of trawler size boat prices, or a sudden flooding of the market theoretically putting downward pricing pressure.

Go buy the boat you want and enjoy it. You could wait forever to get a “bargain boat”

Ksanders: I agree with you but I would also hold off on a half million dollar+ purchase of a luxury item until after the U.S. election. Im not a paranoid person but who knows what the hell is gonna happen within the next few months. Lol

We keep having brokers and even individuals make us offers over what we paid two years ago. Apparently there are not many 18’ beam Hatteras’s on the market now. We are going to wait until spring and see what the vaccine situation is. If we can start to go ashore when cruising then we will keep her, if we have to continue social distancing then we will sell. We are spending a lot of money to live in a tiny house and to see places from the water only. Covid Life is not what we started this adventure for.......

ksanders said:

It’s funny, we get these threads fairly frequently...


When will boat prices go down???

My opinion is that boat prices do not move all that much in the overall scheme of things due to general market conditions.

Yes we did see an anomaly in the 2008-2010 era but that was a real anomaly in that we had both a severe tightening of the available credit market, along with a serious economic downturn. Those two things were actually tied to one thing, the banking collapse which removed the availability of money from the marketplace. That in my opinion was a once in a lifetime event.

Short of that happening, my opinion is you are not going to see a sudden significant downturn of trawler size boat prices, or a sudden flooding of the market theoretically putting downward pricing pressure.

Go buy the boat you want and enjoy it. You could wait forever to get a “bargain boat”

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Thanks for the response. I'm not so concerned about the cost. I'm willing to pay a fair market price, but don't really want to pay over market. My concern really is about the lack of inventory, or good boats on the same coast that I can choose from.

My guess is that once vaccine is readily available and folks have confidence traveling via plane, cruise ship and crowds more boats will come on the market as folks took for alternate forms of vacation. Plus I have got to think many new owners are not aware of the ongoing costs.

South of Heaven said:

Ksanders: I agree with you but I would also hold off on a half million dollar+ purchase of a luxury item until after the U.S. election. Im not a paranoid person but who knows what the hell is gonna happen within the next few months. Lol

Click to expand...

I don’t know. I cannot think of much that could happen that it would not be somewhat beneficial having a boat.

La Sirena said:

It's no secret that boat sales in all price ranges have soared since the COVID outbreak. I'm looking in the $500K-$1M and my broker says he's having his best year ever in that range.

When the reality of boat ownership sets in, how long will it take before people who just bought boats will be selling them?

Right now it's a seller's market with low inventory. When do you think that will shift to a buyer's market?

Click to expand...

IMO, feeble as it may be, when this vaccine is developed and people are inoculated .... the market for used boats will loosen up. The "new" will ware off and people will begin to sell their boat aka escape pods.
This might take a season or two.

So few new boats Were sold from 2007 until now. This is why it’s so hard to find good inventory. The bump from Covid-19 has made a difficult situation worse. Don’t expect prices to drop until we hit a prolonged recession.

A boat came up at the beginning of September that had traded 11 months ago in the $500-1m range (new owners had decided they had bought a boat that didn’t meet some of their needs etc. ). Asking price was $150k over their purchase price last October. No major work done in between. We made a cash offer $100k over their purchase price within 3 days of it hitting the market and were not the winning offer. Nothing really to add other than great time to be a seller.

I think a lot of boats will come on the market over the next 1-2 years. The rush this year has been people seeking a Plan B for what they normally do for vacation. When Plan A becomes available to them again, I think most will return to that, though some will remain hooked on boating.


I also think the "reality of boating" will be a major factor. My sense is that the rejection rate for later boats is pretty high. People love the concept, but don't appreciate all the work and expense involved, and don't realize that even when the boat's working, boating can still be a miserable experience. I think that rejection rate will be even higher for people who jumped into boating because of Covid.

Woodland Hills said:

........We are going to wait until spring and see what the vaccine situation is. If we can start to go ashore when cruising then we will keep her, if we have to continue social distancing then we will sell......

Click to expand...

Lollygag1 said:

My guess is that once vaccine is readily available and folks have confidence traveling via plane, cruise ship and crowds more boats will come on the market as folks took for alternate forms of vacation.....

Click to expand...

It is interesting the way we look at things, isn't it? Our different perspectives are fascinating.

One thought above says when people are more willing to move around like normal, then they will keep their boat because boating/cruising will be more fun (going ashore, etc). If things do not get back to normal, they might sell. So, boating was plan A, but they may switch to a plan B. The next thought says just the opposite, that as we work towards "normal" then people will sell their boats in exchange for alternate forms of vacationing due to restored confidence in other activities. Boating was plan B, but now that plan A is available again, then sell the boat.

I'm not saying either thought is right or wrong.... that is not my point at all. Both thoughts are logical, so I am not being critical of either. It is just fun to see how we all look at things so differently when it comes to analyzing the boat market (or almost any market, for that matter). To the OP, it's hard to know which way it will go, right?

AZ2, alternative vacation? Not everyone along the ICW will be happy to see the visitors.
Maybe a drop box with a sign on the dock, "Please deposit the money you were planning to spend in town."???