{"id":69688,"date":"2026-07-23T07:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/?p=69688"},"modified":"2026-07-30T08:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:28:13","slug":"offer-price-boat-market-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/guide\/offer-price-boat-market-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Sell, wait, or buy now? <\/span><\/span>Quo vadis boat market 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Update \u2013 Feedback from a reader:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“One of the best reports from SeaHelp of broad interest.<\/em>
\nI have had to share the same experiences for 5 months now as the seller of a sailing yacht (built in 2015, approx. 27 feet). Berth on the Ijsselmeer, ideally suited for this sailing area.<\/em>
\nDuring this time, the listing received 840 clicks. So far, 1 caller has asked whether a trailer is included.<\/em>
\nSince I don’t want to give the boat away, I will wait another year before selling it.<\/em>
\nBest regards, a SeaHelp member”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The boat market in the DACH region is currently in a difficult state. SeaHelp explains what might be behind this, and when the situation can be expected to ease at the earliest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many boat owners who want to sell their boat<\/a> \u2013 for instance to buy a new or larger boat, or simply because they want to give up their water sports hobby \u2013 report that boat prices are currently “rock bottom” and that certain boats and yachts are simply unsellable at the moment. SeaHelp attempts to analyze the reasons for this and offer tips to those affected.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong> A SeaHelp member recently told us about his attempts to sell the family boat, a very well-kept Ferretti 46, since November 2025, and that there had been “virtually no inquiries or reactions”<\/em> to the sales listing. “Three dealers I know very well offered me between 230,000 and 250,000 euros for my Ferretti 46, built in 2001, in the years 2022 and 2023, but back then I didn’t want to sell yet,”<\/em> the owner told us. A mistake? Should he have sold back then?<\/p>\n

Well, hindsight is usually “20\/20” \u2013 after all, who could have foreseen back then that demand would “already start to slacken” in 2024, and that there would suddenly be only isolated offers for this boat (in the range of merely 190,000 to 220,000 euros)?<\/p>\n

An affected SeaHelp member reports on the current boat market: “Nothing is moving at the moment”<\/h2>\n

The SeaHelp member says he has been observing the market “very intensively (daily)” since November 2025, and noticed that currently “hardly any additional boats\/yachts are being offered,” and that those that can be found on the internet are “always the same ones.” At the moment, “nothing is moving” \u2013 no sales are perceptible, only price reductions.<\/p>\n

He has currently listed his Ferretti for 195,000 euros, and from November 2025 to April 2026 he received “not a single inquiry,” neither by email nor by phone. In April, he then further reduced the asking price to 175,000 euros \u2013 result: “approx. 220 people” had indeed marked his Ferretti as a “favorite,” but there was not a single purchase reaction; it had come “to virtually nothing.”<\/p>\n

The boat owner, a SeaHelp member of the “very first hour,” engaged several dealers, and one of the brokers, who operates across Europe and, according to his own statements, “has sold approx. 1,000 boats \/ yachts in over 30 years and has 20,000 customer addresses in his files,” told him that “since August 2025 the market has been totally dead,” and that since then he had only been able to sell one boat on the German Baltic coast and one in Holland; in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, “nothing is happening at the moment.”<\/p>\n

Further research by our SeaHelp member revealed that other owners with similar boat models are experiencing the same thing: “A yacht owner who is in financial difficulties offered his Azimut 62 Fly with a berth in Italy (Adriatic) for 550,000 euros in September 2025,”<\/em> he tells us. In December 2025 he then reduced the price to 490,000 euros, in February to 430,000 and in April to 375,000 euros \u2013 result: zero.<\/p>\n

Our SeaHelp member went on to tell us that he had recently been in Bodrum on the Turkish Riviera and viewed a Princess 52 Fly, built in 2015. “The usual selling price in Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia is between 750,000 and 950,000 euros,”<\/em> a Greek dealer had listed the yacht for 650,000 euros and the owner himself for 610,000 euros on the internet.<\/p>\n

Yachts in very good condition can currently be acquired at “sensational prices”<\/h2>\n

“The owner bought himself a Fairline 68 Squadron, built in 2022, in March 2025, and the Princess 52 Fly has been in dry storage since September 2024 and is being offered for sale on the internet,”<\/em> says the SeaHelp member; the owner was personally on site and showed him the yacht \u2013 and also told him that he “had been the only interested party to view the yacht since September 2024. The yacht is in very good condition and can probably be acquired at a sensational price.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem:<\/strong> “Anyone who wants to ‘downsize’ or upsize their boat currently simply has a bad hand, because after all, you don’t want (and can’t) buy a yacht if your own one hasn’t been sold yet,”<\/em> says the SeaHelp member, adding: Owning two yachts for an indefinite period of time is probably “every boat owner’s nightmare.”<\/em><\/p>\n

A “major” boat dealer recently confirmed this to him, saying the crisis in the boat market “has been going on since 2024” and would “certainly last another 2-3 years.” Every dealer who is able to cut his costs to the absolute minimum will be strong after the crisis; however, many dealers who have to service financing and ongoing rental costs will “not survive the end and will have to file for insolvency.”<\/p>\n

SeaHelp took this reader’s letter as an opportunity to analyze the current boat market \u2013 at least in broad terms. Our research initially revealed that a well-maintained Ferretti 46 from the 2001 model year is currently likely to fetch roughly between 170,000 and 260,000 euros on the European second-hand market, with the actually achievable price depending very heavily on condition, engine configuration, refit history, berth, VAT status (“VAT paid”) and maintenance records.<\/p>\n

The decisive factor is likely to be less the year of build itself than other factors, such as: Have the engines been overhauled? Have the generator, air conditioning and electronics been modernized? Is the vessel completely osmosis-free? Are there records of regular servicing? New upholstery \/ teak? Berth in the Mediterranean or in freshwater? Did the boat possibly have a charter history? Because the fact is: Especially with Italian flybridge yachts<\/a> of this generation, buyers now pay extremely close attention to documentation and maintenance. A “cheap” Ferretti can very quickly cause six-figure follow-up costs.<\/p>\n

According to SeaHelp research, the European boat market is currently significantly weaker than two to three years ago<\/h2>\n

But none of this seems to play a role in the case of our SeaHelp member \u2013 the vessel is “perfectly maintained and extremely well cared for,” he assured us in conversation; in this “very good condition,” the boat is actually a “bargain.” Our assessment: The seller could well be right, because the reason for the current unsellability lies elsewhere: According to SeaHelp research, the European boat market is indeed significantly weaker at the moment than it was two to three years ago.<\/p>\n

Yacht broker Oliver Sieckmann<\/a>, whom we met at the Salone Nautico Venezia, confirmed the situation with the words: “At the moment there is an absolute buyer’s market.”<\/em> Anyone planning to buy a boat or yacht should do so now, because prices are “rock bottom.”<\/em> Anyone wanting to sell a yacht, on the other hand, would be “well advised to wait a while longer”<\/em> \u2013 or would have to settle for significantly less proceeds from the sale.<\/p>\n

The new boat market is also affected by the current situation: In the past, scheduled boat viewings at yacht shows regularly resulted in purchases; unfortunately, that is currently not the case. When there are reserved test drives and viewings, preliminary contracts and declarations of intent to buy are currently often cancelled afterwards for flimsy reasons \u2013 or without any reasons given at all, Wladimir Zinchenko, founder and CEO of Greenline Yachts from Slovenia, tells us at the show.<\/p>\n

The boat market is currently suffering from several factors at the same time<\/h2>\n

Why is the boat market currently so difficult? According to SeaHelp research, the market is currently suffering from several factors at the same time: First, there is what we might call the “post-Covid effect.” During the pandemic, demand exploded: Travel was difficult, many people rediscovered water sports for themselves, luxury goods sold extremely well, with the result that even used boats were sometimes sold at astronomical prices. This “exceptional boom” is now over, and the market is probably also still saturated to a certain extent as a result of this exceptional situation.<\/p>\n

In addition, a high interest burden is also likely to play a role at present, because: Yachts are often financed or leased. However, the sharp rise in interest rates in Europe has made financing more expensive, made leasing models less attractive, and as a result made buyers “more cautious.” This is currently being felt massively, especially with boats between 150,000 and 500,000 euros.<\/p>\n

The currently virtually “exploding” running costs must also not be neglected in this context: Berths, winter storage, diesel, insurance<\/a>, boatyard hours and spare parts have in some cases become drastically more expensive in southern Europe in recent months. Many owners now underestimate the running costs of an older flybridge yacht (or are indeed well aware of them), because a 46-foot Ferretti \u2013 to stay with the example above \u2013 can easily consume 15,000 \u2013 30,000 euros in annual costs today \u2014 not counting major repairs.<\/p>\n

Finally, the facts mentioned above result in a clear “supply overhang”: Many boats came back onto the market after the Covid boom, older owners exited,
\nthe charter companies<\/a> are renewing their fleets, and on top of that, economic uncertainty (caused by the political situation in Europe and worldwide) is currently rising. As a result, there are currently significantly more offers than serious buyers.<\/p>\n

A further effect of this development:<\/strong> Buyers have become very selective; there is definitely still a market \u2014 but only for very well-kept, cleanly documented and modernized boats. “Average boats,” on the other hand, are often left sitting. Another issue here is the purchase price; proceeds like those before or during Covid can currently not be achieved by far.<\/p>\n

The answer to the question of when the market will finally recover is not easy to give<\/h2>\n

Many yacht owners who are seriously considering a sale are therefore asking themselves: When could the market recover? Many brokers currently expect a fundamental turnaround at the earliest for the end of 2026, or more likely only for the period 2027 \/ 2028. So the watchword is: wait it out. A market recovery is likely to depend above all on falling interest rates and a generally more stable economic situation, which could revive the “consumer mood” in the luxury segment; and the (once again positive) development of energy costs must not be forgotten in this context either.<\/p>\n

Only high-quality premium brands and young second-hand boats are currently proving relatively stable; efficient explorer \/ long-range yachts and smaller day cruisers are also less affected by the currently weak boat market. Under pressure, on the other hand, are predominantly older large flybridge yachts with high fuel consumption, boats with a maintenance backlog, and models without modern electronics or IPS systems.<\/p>\n

Classic Italian flybridge yachts of the early 2000s in particular \u2014 including older Ferretti models, to come back to the initial example of our SeaHelp member \u2014 are currently often under particular price pressure, because buyers are increasingly interested in more economical drives, lower operating costs and more modern interior concepts.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, according to our research:<\/strong> A well-kept Ferretti 46 remains an attractive Mediterranean boat with a strong brand image. Good examples should continue to find their buyer \u2014 although unfortunately no longer at the “overheated” Covid prices of 2021 \/ 2022. “SeaHelp can only advise waiting a little longer, because yacht prices will become a bit cheaper still!”<\/em> says SeaHelp Managing Director and profound expert on the yacht market Wolfgang Dauser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update \u2013 Feedback from a reader: “One of the best reports from SeaHelp of broad interest. I have had to share the same experiences for 5 months now as the seller of a sailing yacht (built in 2015, approx. 27 feet). Berth on the Ijsselmeer, ideally suited for this sailing area. During this time, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":69687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[550],"tags":[651,661,590],"class_list":["post-69688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide","tag-boat","tag-boat-purchase","tag-yacht-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69946,"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69688\/revisions\/69946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}