Superyacht ownership is often viewed as one of the first expandable luxuries in difficult financial times. During the subprime crisis this led yacht prices to plummet and shipyards to collapse leaving some new builds unfinished.
Whilst the US is experiencing its longest bull run in its market history, some UHNWIs have started to grow cautious, adopting a more defensive purchase behaviour. Yacht Harbour looks at how today's market is different from the pre-2008 structure and whether signals of a recession can also be seen in the superyacht industry.
Back in 2007, superyachts would be amongst the 100 largest in the world provided they were over 65 meters. A decade later, that metric has increased to 85 meters in length and almost doubled when looked upon in terms of gross tonnage.
During the mid-2000s, the 40-60 meter yacht space was indeed booming, with shipyards growing their order books every year. Demand was in fact so strong that speculators would buy a new build with the view of flipping it at a premium before it was delivered, a shorter delivery time commanding higher prices.
In 2008, this market dynamic collapsed as both orders for new builds were canceled and the brokerage market tanked, slashing prices by more than half for several years. Yachting, in general, subsisted after the crisis on the 2 remaining verticals, which continue to dominate today, ie megayachts and day boats.
There are now more than 50 yachts over 100 meters in length, double the amount that was on the water a decade ago. At an average construction value of $200 million, these 25 builds alone contributed over $500 million per year to the yachting industry.
This figure reflects solely building costs and increases greatly when taking into account yearly maintenance expenses. Yacht management companies alone yield close to $1 million per year off of these builds before even factoring in operational expenses.
Lurssen, first movers in this area, have continued producing a steady input of increasingly larger yachts throughout the past decade whilst maintaining a waiting list for new models. Chasing after this demand, other yards have started competing in the space such as Oceanco, Feadship, Nobiskrug and Benetti.
These new entrants have managed to pick up some landmark projects in recent years such as the 106-meter Black Pearl, largest sailing yacht in the world built at Oceanco for Oleg Bourlakov, or the 142.8-meter S/Y A, largest sail assisted yacht, built at Nobiskrug for Andrei Melnichenko.
Landmark motor yachts have also been delivered by this group such as the 109-meter Bravo Eugenia built by Oceanco for Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones or the 108-meter IJE delivered by Benetti in 2019 for Australian billionaire James Packer.
Demand in the new build market has also transpired into a strong megayacht brokerage market with a number of them changing hands in past years. Notably, both of Graeme Hart's explorer yachts built at Kleven have been sold in the past 2 years as well as Steve Wynn's 92-meter Feadship, Aquarius.
A growing fleet of megayachts has also led to there being more of them being available for charter. The largest of these has become the 136-meter Flying Fox, delivered by Lurssen in 2019 and presented at the Monaco Yacht Show.
This followed from a number of yachts over 100 meters becoming available for charter, such as Bernard Arnault's 101-meter Feadship, Symphony or Lurssen's 110-meter TIS, which chartered this summer at a rate of $2.2 million per week.
In turn, this new megayacht charter market, may have somewhat slowed demand for purchases in a space historically dominated by Middle Eastern, Russians and Americans that were building these yachts as it was the only way to previously access them.
A previously unseen number of megayachts is now up for sale, with it being unclear how this number of them can clear market and at what price. Amongst yachts currently up for sale in this range are the 110-meter TIS, being offered for sale by Lurssen as her initial owner couldn't take delivery but also the 126-meter Octopus, now on the market at €295 million following Paul Allen's death in late 2018.
Amadea, the 106-meter Lurssen delivered in 2016 and likely only yacht with a real, indoor fireplace, is also looking for a new owner. Steve Wynn's former yacht, the 92-meter Aquarius, Genting Group's 91-meter Tranquility and the Chinese 88-meter Illusion Plus are also up for grabs at the right price. Reports have also appeared of the 105-meter Lady Moura now being on the market.
In contrast to the megayacht space dominated by a specific clientele, day boats and yachts that require low yearly operational expenses have also been dominating marketshare amongst UHNWIs. Primarily between 20-30 meters in length, this class of yachts has exploded throughout the worldwide market propelling yards like Sanlorenzo to the public markets earlier this year with a €550 million market cap.
Often easier and less costly to manage with a crew of just 3-4 on average, this new generation of 20-30 meter yachts appeals to a broad spectrum of owners looking for day boats and short getaways without the hassle of the operations of a superyacht despite having the means to acquire one.
Dominated by Sanlorenzo, Azimut, Sunseeker and Princess, this sector differs from superyachts by offering clear line-ups of yachts and shorter delivery times. Despite their smaller sizes, prices on new builds in this range have however remained high.
Indeed new build prices for yachts such as the Azimut 27m Grande orbit near €4 million depending on options, whereas a 40-meter brokerage yacht could be purchased with the same budget. Yearly expenses for the 40-meter would, however, be nearly triple that of the 27-meter, providing yet another insight as to why the middle sizes in yachting have been struggling ever since 2008.
Reflecting this trend of UHNWIs choosing to opt for smaller yachts has also transpired in their design, which now includes large owners cabins and more open deck spaces than previously built models.
Another appeal of smaller yachts to this base has also become the ability to move from bay to bay faster with cruising speeds nearly double that of superyachts and the possibility to anchor closer to the shore.
This new breed of clients with the means for superyachts but who prefer the flexibility of smaller boats has transformed their use and layouts. As this group started asking for the functional of open day boats coupled with large spaces, series such as Sanlorenzo's Bluegame have been created.
These focus almost entirely on outdoor and entertainment space, minimising the importance of dinning areas and large cabins. Aimed at owners that only spend the day at sea and then retreat to villas overnight, these yachts look vastly different from what was seen in this size range before.
Another one of the common features of yachts in this new range are oversized tender and watersport facilities for the size of the vessels, highlighting interests of a new generation of owners.
Following after this trend, its key players have seen their valuations skyrocket compared to those stuck in the middle. Sanlorenzo, the Italian yard most active in the sub 30-meter range, has gone public earlier this December with a market cap of €550 million and revenues of €355 million in 2018.
On the private side, Sunseeker was acquired for £320 million in 2013 by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda. Princess Yachts was saved in 2008 by French giant LVMH, in a deal that valued the British yacht manufacturer at over €200 million.
Seeing both ends of the board, LVMH later made a move to acquire Royal Van Lent, part of Feadship, in a deal that analysts valued at near €400 million. The only other company to play in both 20-30 meters and megayachts is the Azimut-Benetti Group, owned by the Vitelli family, which posted a production value of €900 million in 2019, up 10% year on year.
The simultaneous growth of the megayacht segment and the 20-30 meter space, coupled with a strong slowdown in everything in the middle, has led to a dominant consolidation in the superyacht space. Over 63% of yacht gross tonnage is now delivered by just 10 shipyards, which are either in the megayacht range, dayboat range or both.
This is mainly due to yards that had focused on 40-60 meter yachts closing or greatly lowering production due to a collapse in demand and very slow recovery. In fact, only in the past few quarters has demand for this range started to slightly pick up, primarily pushed by larger yachts versions of 20-30 meter models out of those yards.
On top of that, banks are now wary of financing yachts and especially shipyards post the events of 2008, which led yards like Baglietto to have over €100 million in negative equity. Financing for businesses in yachting now largely comes from UHNWIs that have decided to actively participate in the market.
Some of them have stepped in to acquire shipyards such as Malaysia's Genting Group that acquired Wider Yachts after its owner first buying a yacht from them. At a larger scale, Mohammed Al Barwani, an Omani billionaire acquired Oceanco in 2010, transforming it into the powerhouse it is today.
Most of the top players in yachting in fact now have strong financial power behind them, which allows them to be less reliant on credit lines from banks, whether it is LVMH's Princess or Dalian Wanda's Sunseeker amongst others.
The same can be said not only for yards but also the businesses on the service end of the market. Camper & Nicholsons, one of the leading yacht brokerages, was acquired by both Fincantieri and the Lai Sun Group in 2014. Earlier this year, Fraser Yachts was acquired by MarineMax, a public US company. Even new companies are now being set up by owners such as Ahoy Club, created by Australian, Ian Malouf owner of both the 54-meter Mischief and 72-meter Coral Ocean.
Whilst all of these trends may appear unusual for the sector when looked at over the past few years, in reality these have all happened before in times that were closely followed by economic recessions.
Indeed in 2008, one of the most high profile bankruptcies became Rodriguez Group. A yachting powerhouse in its heyday, the group was mostly known for its distribution of the Mangusta line of yachts. These appealed to a broad base of younger clients through their speeds and relatively low overhead thanks to low crew count.
Over a hundred of them were built throughout the 2000s, until demand for them rapidly collapsed following the subprime crisis. The brokerage market on them soon tanked as well, cutting their resale value in half over the course of weeks. Smaller Mangustas still trade on the brokerage market today for well under $1 million.
Rodriguez Group's tale seems to have close parallels to the hyper growth of the 20-30 meter market today, albeit with less of a focus on speed and more on ease of use. Whilst emblematic of the times, Rodriguez Group was far from alone in this predicament at the time with shipyards Princess and Sunseeker under pressure and ultimately sold to alleviate financial pressure on their production line.
Although slightly smaller in size, megayachts have also started appearing with increasing frequency slightly before the economic pullback. Despite the recession, however, these clients were able to complete their builds for the most part thanks to larger ressources than average yacht buyers which maintained that market segment.
After a growth period in 20-30 meters and megayachts, what came even closer to the recession was a short period of yacht flipping and strong demand for mid-sized superyachts.
In 2006 and 2007, demand for superyachts was so strong that an already built yacht was considered more valuable than a new build as it didn't require any waiting period. It wasn't long before entrepreneurs with deep pockets realised money could be made from the arbitrage of ordering a yacht and flipping it whilst still in build to impatient buyers.
Others, realised this method could yield even greater results if ordering multiple yachts at the same time from a shipyard to gain group discounts. Perhaps the most noticeable of these projects was one led by real estate developer Warren E Halle.
In 2003, Halle's company ordered a 67-meter Lurssen, now named Apoise, which he sold in 2006 for €65 million to Canadian entrepreneur David Ritchie. The year prior, he had ordered another 2 yachts of similar size, all for €48 million a piece. In 2008, he sold one of them, St Nicholas for €71.500.000, keeping the 3rd yacht for himself as a profit.
The arbitrage opportunity disappeared in a matter of weeks when the market turned in 2008 and remained a myth in yachting for years. Today, however, we are starting to see similar yacht flipping patterns we had a decade ago.
Graeme Hart, richest man in New Zealand, ordered 2 explorer yachts from Kleven, which were delivered in 2017 and 2018, both named Ulysses. The first, 107-meter one was sold a year following her delivery and renamed Andromeda by her new owner. The second was sold in 2019 and is still named Ulysses. A buy and sell pattern that perfectly follows yacht flipping techniques we've seen before.
As another echo of pre-recession times, some UHNWIs have returned to the market with the idea of buying and operating a yacht as a profitable charter business, which markets have proven simply doesn't work with current economics. Even if operating costs can be covered through very active charter yachts, CAPEX could never be recuperated except for a few odd years of economic anomalies.
The 40-60 meter yacht market, last one to start growing before a recession kicks off, has also recently started picking up as owners look for yachts to upgrade to with growing disposable incomes. Indeed if a few years earlier, yachts in this range were expected to trade at 30-40% under asking price, this gap has shrunk to closer to 25-30% in recent quarters Timeline analytics show.
Yards known for 20-30 meter yachts primarily, are also expanding their ranges to 40-60 meters to retain clients that want to move up in size. For example, Sanlorenzo, which for decades focused on 20-30 meter yachts, has delivered earlier this year their newest flagship, the 64-meter Attila.
Whereas a recession doesn't appear like a certainty yet, many factors within yachting do seem to point towards what historically have been recession signals. These seem to go together with broader market warning signals amidst trade wars and increased protectionism from key countries.
Should another recession be around the corner, it is however unclear if its effects on yachting will be similar to the near destruction that occurred in 2008. Key players in yachting now nearly all have deep financial pockets behind them that can afford to stomach defaults on receivables and drops in production volumes for periods of time.
This is opposed to 2008 when many yards and businesses were independently-owned and relied on strong bank financing and demand to keep their operations going which had low margins despite a period of strong demand.
Despite deeper pockets, less is now dependent on yards in costs of production, as these are being driven up by increasingly costly interior design finishing costs. Indeed as most of these suppliers were consolidated into larger groups, these drove up pricing in-line with luxury furniture costs on land, which drove up production costs for yachts.
The worldwide yacht fleet is now also larger than ever. In the event of an economic slowdown, it is unclear who, if anyone, will be willing to purchase less fashionable and older yachts to keep them operational given high yearly costs. This is especially troubling for GRP yachts, which can't be utilised as steel or aluminium can for parts.
Private aviation had previously undergone this transition, with older Learjet aircrafts in the US no longer interesting for owners to operate despite acquisition costs in the tens of thousands of dollars. Ultimately most of these aircrafts were left abandoned, some transferred to museums in small cities.
Regardless of whether a recession happens, it appears however self-evident that on its current trajectory, the yachting space is set for further consolidation. Should a recession occur, this path would likely only be accelerated with cheaper M&A.
Turkish shipyard Ares Yachts has introduced its first superyacht, the 62-meter ketch-rigged Simena. The steel-carbon composite vessel will debut at the 2025 Monaco Yacht Show (September 24-27) after completing sea trials.Designed to RINA Charter Class C standards, Simena ranks among the world's top 25 largest sailing yachts. Taka Yacht Design developed the exterior, while Design Unlimited created the interior blending classic and contemporary elements. The yacht features teak decks, mahogany joinery, and a hybrid propulsion system enabling silent electric operation up to 6 knots or 14.5-knot top speed with diesel assistance."Simena blends classic ketch elegance with cutting-edge technology," said Piraye Sahinkaya Orhun, Ares Yachts Projects Director. The yacht accommodates 12 guests and 9 crew, with a main-deck owner's suite and transatlantic range of 4,000 nm at 11 knots.Interior materials include walnut cabinetry, textured leathers, and marble-clad bathrooms. Northrop & Johnson holds the exclusive listing. Ares Yachts, situated in Antalya Free Zone on Turkey’s south coast, spans 40,000 square meters of build space across four large sheds. Besides Simena, the shipyard is concurrently working on other projects, including the 50m motor yacht Spitfire and a 54m explorer yacht known as Project Atlas. Additionally, Ares Yachts is developing a 65-85m yacht range in collaboration with Lateral Naval Architects.Credits: Ares Yachts
July 5, 2025
Columbus Yachts has started building its new 48-meter Crossover model at Palumbo Superyachts' Savona shipyard. The steel-hulled explorer with aluminum superstructures follows two previously sold Crossover units (42m and 47m), marking the shipyard's first self-financed project in this series.Designed by Hydro Tec, the vessel features an 8.6-meter beam and 2.75-meter draft, optimized for stability and long-range cruising. The exterior combines explorer-style proportions with a bulbous bow and streamlined stern for ocean-going capability. Key features include a multifunctional aft deck that can store a large tender or convert into a pool and lounge area.Accommodation includes six cabins for 12 guests, with the owner's suite on the upper deck and a VIP cabin on the main deck. The naval architecture was developed jointly by Hydro Tec and the shipyard's engineering team.No delivery date or price was disclosed. The Crossover series targets owners seeking a balance between expedition capability and contemporary yacht design.Founded in 2008 under Palumbo Superyachts, Columbus Yachts combines 50+ years of maritime expertise with modern yacht-building innovation. The brand gained recognition after launching its first 54m superyacht Prima in 2011 and later pioneering hybrid propulsion technology, earning RINA certification for its Sport Hybrid 40m.Specializing in semi-custom and full-custom builds (37m–120m), Columbus offers four lines: Atlantique, Crossover, Sport, and Classic. Its flagship 80m Dragon exemplifies its craftsmanship. As part of Palumbo Superyachts, the brand provides end-to-end owner support alongside sister yards ISA Yachts, Mondomarine, and Extra Yachts.Credits: Columbus Yachts
June 30, 2025
The 34th Monaco Yacht Show will take place from September 24-27, 2025, featuring approximately 560 exhibitors across Port Hercule. The event will display 120 superyachts, including 50 new builds from 2025, alongside 60 luxury tenders.Organizers have introduced a new sustainability program developed with the Water Revolution Foundation, highlighting exhibitors advancing environmental initiatives. The show's thematic zones include the Yacht Design & Innovation Hub for new concepts, the Adventure Area showcasing over 40 luxury vehicles and water toys, and the upper deck lounge for luxury goods and services."The exhibitor list helps future owners identify key contacts for custom builds, refits, or charters within an exclusive, innovation-focused environment," said Gaëlle Tallarida, Managing Director of the Monaco Yacht Show.The current exhibitor roster includes shipyards, designers, equipment manufacturers, and luxury service providers. The list remains subject to updates through summer 2025.Credits: MYS
June 30, 2025
The latest 80-meter Amels Limited Editions superyacht has arrived at Damen Yachting's Vlissingen shipyard in the Netherlands after construction at their Galatz facility in Romania. The vessel will now undergo full outfitting in preparation for delivery in 2027.Project Manager Danker Rijk stated: "After an impressive launch in our Galatz shipyard, we are delighted to welcome this Amels 80 to Vlissingen to commence the outfitting phase. This is an exciting milestone toward delivering another exceptional yacht on schedule."The 2,175 GT superyacht features exterior design by Espen Øino and interiors by Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design. With accommodations for 14 guests and 21 crew members, the vessel represents Damen Yachting's combination of custom features with proven yacht-building technology.The Amels 80 follows the Limited Editions series' approach of offering semi-custom superyachts with reduced build times compared to fully custom projects. No further details about the owner or specific custom features were disclosed.Damen Yachting, a division within the Damen Shipyards Group, was created in 2019. The division combines the pedigree and heritage of Amels yachts with a growing portfolio of SeaXplorer yachts and Yacht Support vessels.Credits: Damen Yachting
June 27, 2025
Flexjet and Ferretti Group have introduced Riva Volare, a custom aircraft cabin design inspired by Riva motoryachts. The collaboration brings nautical styling to Flexjet's Gulfstream G650 jets and Sikorsky S-76 helicopters, targeting ultra-high-net-worth travelers.The Gulfstream G650 configuration accommodates 12-15 passengers for flights up to 16 hours, while two Sikorsky S-76 helicopters will operate in Florida and a new Milan-based service covering Italy and the French Riviera. Ferretti Group clients will receive preferential access to the helicopter operations.The design blends elements from Riva's 1960s Aquarama with contemporary Aquariva models, using artisanal materials and distinctive patterns. The interiors were developed through collaboration between both companies' design teams.Kenn Ricci and Alberto Galassi"I have long admired the iconic style of Riva, and seeing this brought to life in our aircraft is nothing short of exceptional," said Flexjet Chairman Kenn Ricci. Ferretti Group CEO Alberto Galassi added: "Riva Volare is another splendid result of our collaboration with Flexjet, a brand with which we share the same passion for constantly raising quality standards."The design was unveiled June 26 at Milano Prime Linate Airport, with displays of the aircraft alongside a Riva Aquariva Special yacht. No pricing details were disclosed.The Ferretti Group, led by Chief Executive Officer Alberto Galassi, is now one of the world’s leaders in the construction and sale of luxury yachts and pleasure vessels, with a unique portfolio of brands: Ferretti Yachts, Riva, Pershing, Itama, Mochi Craft, CRN, Custom Line and Wally.Credits: Ferretti Group
June 27, 2025