2023 a Big Year for Pre-owned Catamarans
The Catamaran Guru yacht brokerage division continues to grow, offering full-service brokerage to buyers and sellers of pre-owned yachts. The experienced Cat Guru brokers now have a presence in Florida, Texas, Maryland, Sint Maarten, and St. Thomas in the Caribbean.
The leisure boating market has exploded in recent years causing extremely low inventories for pre-owned catamarans across the world, but especially here in the US
- “Consumer interest and demand for boating continue to reach near record-highs as more Americans seek out boating as an accessible outdoor activity, especially as other leisure activities, sports and travel continue to be impacted by COVID-19”, says the NMMA.
- According to Businesswire.com, the global leisure boat market size is expected to grow by 4.7% annually through 2030.
- Discoverboating.com says, “There are 91 million potential future boaters in our growth and emerging segments, more than 1.5x the traditional segment size. Check out this really informative infographic.
2023 Used Catamaran Market
Beyond these 2023 predictions of strong catamaran and general boat sales, we have experienced early signs point to continued high demand for catamarans. Catamaran Guru has already inked several deals in the first weeks of January with several more in the pipeline.
Our brokers stayed busy in 2022 as they helped yacht buyers find the right used catamaran for their purposes, yet due to a lack of inventory, the team sold one-third fewer boats than in 2021. Sales of the sparse inventory were robust, but some boats failed survey (more so than in previous years), or were vastly overpriced which means that buyers are being a little more discerning. The majority of the boats we sold in 2022 were 45ft and up with revenues up from the year before which seems to be the trend going forward. While we serve the entire catamaran range market, big or small, in 2022, we had few requests for boats under $400K, which is surprising.
Just as in the past few years,
our brokers have relationships that bring them early notification of pre-owned catamarans in good condition and they are usually snapped up immediately. Bidding wars often ensue. This trend does not seem to be slowing much as interest from “live-aboard” buyers and charter owner-operators has continued to strengthen in the past year.
We see 2023 yacht sales to be very beneficial for buyers. We think that we will have more inventory coming to market and at more reasonable prices but demand is still very high. Therefor sellers can still expect to fetch good prices for their boats since new boats are not readily available yet because of a huge backlog. Higher interest rates, tighter insurance rules and limited marina space for catamarans will have an impact on sellers. But there are still very eager buyers with cash and we are ready with some innovative ideas to help buyers. Our relationships in banking, insurance, charter management etc. will no doubt benefit our buyers and sellers.
2022 Catamaran Sales Stats
We love stats here at Catamaran Guru, so here are a few from last year! *disclaimer – this information is only as accurate as the data that brokers report, so some of this data might be slightly off (a few new cats might be mixed in here) but this is a fairly good indication of the market in 2021 compared to 2022. The boating market in general started normalizing in 2022 as the total number of boats sold globally decreased for the first time since the pandemic started. As mentioned before, that more typical market conditions emerged in 2022 due to the lack of inventory, softening demand, higher interest rates and tighter insurance requirements.
Number of 38ft and up used catamarans sold in 2022 vs 2021 in the USA
- 474 – Total catamarans sold (803 sold in 2021)
- 165 – Lagoon Catamarans (201 sold in 2021)
- 98 – Leopard Catamarans (109 sold in 2021)
- 69 – Fountaine Pajot (96 sold in 2021)
- 17 – Nautitech (27 sold in 2021)
- 11 – Bali Catamarans (7 sold in 2021)
- 10 – Privilege (12 sold in 2021)
- 9 – Manta (16 sold in 2021)
- 9 – Catana (11 sold in 2021)
- 8 – Voyage (10 sold in 2021)
- 5 – Seawind (11 sold in 2021)
- 11- Outremer (5 sold in 2021)
Number of catamarans sold by size in 2022
- 131 – from 38ft to 40ft
- 137 – from 41ft to 44ft
- 158 – from 45ft to 50ft
- 48 – from 51ft and up
Why Catamaran Guru?
Our expertise in the yacht charter management market is an added bonus for buyers who want to set up their own charter businesses to take advantage of tax incentives. Buyers can often justify the purchase of a luxury catamaran if that asset can at least cover its holding costs. With our program, you can do that and save on taxes. In fact, we have built relationships with many boutique yacht charter management companies to ensure that our boat buyers have the best programs that meet their financial and personal goals.
Catamaran Guru team’s personal knowledge of boats as well as live-aboard and sailing experience, makes our team a powerful resource for our buyers and sellers. Our brokerage has international readership and a very robust social media presence. When you list your boat with us, our reach is far and wide and your boat will have wide exposure through our online media presence, Yachtworld listings, and other sales platforms. So, if you have a multihull to sell, this is the place to do it. Our marketing and after-sales support teams are some of the best in the business and will make your experience as smooth as possible.
Buying a Catamaran? If you are looking to buy a pre-owned yacht, contact us or fill out this form to help you do some market research and comparisons and guide you to find some plum listings to view. The history of the model itself, the builder’s reputation, the market value, estimates for upgrades and more. The purchase of a cruising catamaran is probably one of the biggest investments a buyer will make in their lifetime. So it makes complete sense to ensure to choose the very best representation.
Meet Our Yacht Brokerage Team
Selling Your Catamaran? Get a Valuation
Our team is ready to do a valuation of your catamaran and discuss a marketing strategy to sell your boat fast! We will guide you through the process and carry the sale to completion. We are very good at what we do; we do the showings, the negotiation, coordinate surveys, finance, insurance and possibly refitting services. We help reduce your risks by facilitating the sale of your catamaran.
To begin listing your yacht, fill out our online Boat Valuation form below and a broker will be in touch quickly to get your boat sold.
BENEFITS OF A BUYERS' YACHT BROKER
We still occasionally hear, “Why should I pay a yacht broker when I can use a for sale by owner (FSBO) approach?” While you can definitely sell your boat yourself, there are certain pitfalls that may trip you up like getting clear title or finding out if duty was paid on the import of the boat or if the engines are legal in the US due to emissions conformity with EPA standards. We encountered every one of these scenarios and it can become a hot potato for clients who do not deal with these legalities every day. Plus, professional yacht brokers are well-informed about the market and as your independent representative can often get you a better price than with FSBO.
The final stages of buying a yacht can often be fraught with issues and there are a lot of details that need to be addressed. The “for sale by owner” concept is great for some, but it could put you at a disadvantage. It will no doubt take a lot of your time and will not have your own experienced and trusted advisor to re-negotiating after the survey findings which could often yield a substantial discount. Plus, closing can be tedious if you are not accustomed to collecting and organizing the needed documents. Our closing team has years of experience in the marine industry and can help assist you every step of the way, ensuring a smooth transaction. Read below what a broker can do for you.
