Superyacht market soars to £3bn a year as billionaires seek refuge during the pandemic

The superyacht market is booming, with annual global sales in 2021 rising 80 per cent to almost €4bn (£3.42bn) as billionaires and A-list celebrities head for the seas to find refuge during the pandemic.

Published: Friday, 12 November 2021

Purchases of luxury vessels longer than 24m were up more than 122 per cent on the average for the last 12 years, according to brokers Fraser Yachts.

Jeff Bezos’s $206bn superyacht was spotted in Greece on Monday, Jennifer Lopez confirmed her rekindled romance with Ben Affleck with a photo of the pair kissing on a $130m vessel, and entertainment mogul David Geffen reassured his Instagram followers he was “staying safe” last March while isolating on his $590m, 82-room boat in the Grenadines. Geffen’s yacht has a gym, basketball court, wine cellar and cinema and has played host to Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Springsteen, Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey.

The growing number of superyacht owners is thought to be driven in part by an increase in the ranks of the ultra-wealthy during the pandemic. According to Forbes, there are now 2,755 billionaires – up by 660 on 2020.

A spokeswoman for Fraser Yachts told i that it was not just the world’s billionaires turning to eye-wateringly expensive supervessels, with more than 40 per cent of clients buying or chartering with Fraser this year trying yachting for the first time.

“Some have seen that their ultra-rich friends who own yachts had a nice time during the pandemic, while they had to lock themselves at home,” Pepe García-Aubert, chairman of Spanish superyacht shipyard firm MB92, told Reuters. “I think this phenomenon is going to last for a few years.”

Alberto Galassi, chief executive of Italian yacht builder Ferretti, put the surge in superyacht consumption down to the pandemic, because it “has taught us how fragile our life is. Postponing is no longer an option for those who can afford it.”

Industry publication The Superyacht Group said more than 200 new superyachts debuted on international waters between January and September 2021, up from 165 in 2019 – with 330 more on order.

Still, the glamorous lifestyle doesn’t come cheap. These crafts cost the buyer between $10m and $600m, with the lower end of the bracket made up of second-hand boats, industry figures show.

Please read the full article here

Original article and image from inews.co.uk