The classic car market – June 2015
The Classic Car Market – June 2015
Hagerty’s US market rating declined this month for the reasons they give below:
- May saw a 1/3 reduction in the number of cars offered at auction compared to May 2014, primarily due to single-collection sales tapering off.
- Following a strong year, private sales recorded the smallest gain this past month of the past 12 months.
Insured values again set record highs, but month-over-month changes in both the broad and high-end markets slowed for the second consecutive month.
- Following a strong year, private sales recorded the smallest gain this past month of the past 12 months.
- Expert sentiment continued to diminish, falling more than two points month-over-month, and is now down 8.2 points in the past year. Factors noted were increasing scarcity of top-quality cars on offer and long holding times for any inventory that isn’t of top quality.
May was a relatively quiet month for auctions in the UK due to Bank Holiday weekends.
Hagerty Market Rating – historic view
The HAGI Index reported falls in their TOP 50 Index of around 2.6% after an increase in April of 5.45%. Significantly they report that 12 month growth is around 19% which is significantly stronger than the long term average. Their Ferrari (HAGI F) and Porsche (HAGI P) indices both saw small corrections after increases in April but again they report strong 12 month growth – particularly for Porsche at 35%. The HAGI MBCI (Mercedes-Benz) index went up by 0.27% and 12 month growth of 14% – Mercedes is certainly flying low on the CSF radar at the moment. Year to date their indices generally slight increases of around 2-5 % YTD.
The K500 index stands at 446.6 from an opening position on 1 December 2014 of 449.9,a slight rise from last month but a static market overall.
The Classic & Sports Index
Our index is based on enquiries and customer sentiment. At the moment Porsche is still the marque to beat and apparently there is no shortage of Porsche buyers out there. Buyers are becoming more canny and are looking before they leap so we would whole-heartedly agree with Hagerty that the best cars are selling and that average cars are remaining in stock for a long time – this is particularly true for Ferrari, although dealer prices continue to head skywards (see graph below). Aston Martin prices remain stable. Auction prices have cooled off a little from some of the frankly amazing prices being paid over the last six months. It is interesting that expert sentiment continues to decline – this will be correlated to the large amount of UK stock that isn’t selling quickly.
Outlook – stable. Buyer appetite – steady. Advice – Buy the best and forget the rest.
Many thanks are due to Hagerty UK for their support and cooperation in allowing us to share their data. We hope to extend this direct sharing of information to the other indices in the very near future.
