Boat prices and current market

[WhiteSuit]

I sold my boat last spring through a broker. It sold within a matter of hours for the asking price which was approximately 50% more than I paid about 9 years earlier. Part of the reason for selling and leaving the canals was that I was recouping all my investment into the boat, including maintenance and improvement, and I thought the market was overheated.

There appears to be two major groups buying boats, those that cannot afford mortgages or renting costs of bricks and mortar and those with affluent pensions to afford the lifestyle. These you would think will continue but I regularly peruse the Duck and brokers sites and boats like ours appear to be slower to sell, often with price reductions. Although I miss boat life tremendously, from a financial point of view I believe I sold at the right time. That said I will only be proved right or wrong by hindsight.

At the end of the day do you want to boat and have you the finances to do it. As has been said already life is for living it is not a dress rehearsal.

 

[Awayonmyboat]

As many have said, future guessing boat prices is almost impossible. There are valid arguments for both boat prices rising and equally for falling over the next couple of years. You have to follow your gut instinct. Mine is the market has currently past a peak and will continue to fall slowly for a while because there will be a relative glue of boats due to a mix of distressed sales plus sellers regretting their COVID purchase impulse.

 

For what it's worth here is the price history of my boat (as far as I can tell from the paperwork I have):

2005 bought as a sailaway for£27,000

2007 sold fitted out for £55,000

2008 sold for £28,000

2019 sold to me for £37,000

2020/21 value (at peak of COVID market) high £50,000s maybe even £60,000.

Now - based on comparable sales I reckon low to mid £50,000s.

 

So the two major impacts on the value of the boat have been the unpredicted 2008 financial crash and COVID. How good is your crystal ball?

 

My take, is do it now if it's important to you - you cannot predict markets or (more importantly) your future circumstances and health.

 

[mrsmelly]

4 hours ago, Mick in Bangkok said:

Many good comments posted, I will keep them all in mind on my return to UK in the new year. 

I have been retired now since begining of this year so will now start my boat search at a lesurally pace, hope to see you on the canels in the not to distant future 

Not at all wishing to sound rude but..........if you are now retired unless you were a wealthy millionaire and have retired aged 40 then one thing you probably dont have is " Time " and thats what you need to do stuff like looking for a boat at a leisurely pace. Life is way too short to simply worry about the boat value now, next month, next year etc etc. Life is all too short. Buy a boat whilst you are fit and able, that can all change in a split second. Better to have loved and lost and all that 

[Mad Harold]

On 09/10/2022 at 19:12, MtB said:

 

 

 

I agree with Alan's point about there being lots of forced sellers of houses looking for boats to live on, but given they are all by definition boracic (or they'd have kept up with the mortgage), they won't budge the market much as they will all be looking for bargain basement boats to buy. So my own opinion is as the UK as a whole is all set to get poorer for the text ten years or so, boat prices will slip accordingly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surely a more fundamental question would be, will the canals still be cruisable?

News is full of doom and gloom about the economy and talk of massive government spending cuts.It's unlikely that canals will be top of the list for finance.

BORACIC??   Do you mean the Northern word BRASSIC? Meaning got no brass. (Broke)

 

[JamesFrance]

4 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Not at all wishing to sound rude but..........if you are now retired unless you were a wealthy millionaire and have retired aged 40 then one thing you probably dont have is " Time " and thats what you need to do stuff like looking for a boat at a leisurely pace. Life is way too short to simply worry about the boat value now, next month, next year etc etc. Life is all too short. Buy a boat whilst you are fit and able, that can all change in a split second. Better to have loved and lost and all that 

This is so true, I recently had to sell my last boat because of failing eyesight but have so many memories to look back on.

[Mike Todd]

Only ever buy a boat on the basis of what it is worth to you right now, bearing in mind what you hope to do with it. 

 

That way you win both ways: if prices go up you can feel smug, if they go down it does not matter as it is still worth to you what you paid for it.

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:

Only ever buy a boat on the basis of what it is worth to you right now, bearing in mind what you hope to do with it. 

 

That way you win both ways: if prices go up you can feel smug, if they go down it does not matter as it is still worth to you what you paid for it.

Agreed, it depends on what type of person you are ... If you had planned well ahead you would have bought a property in London twenty years ago, and now sell it to buy an farm in the Cotswolds plus a fixed contract sailaway which you paid a deposit on four years ago to complete last spring.

 

n  the mi

Edited October 11, 2022 by LadyG

[alias]

3 hours ago, Mad Harold said:

Surely a more fundamental question would be, will the canals still be cruisable?

News is full of doom and gloom about the economy and talk of massive government spending cuts.It's unlikely that canals will be top of the list for finance.

BORACIC??   Do you mean the Northern word BRASSIC? Meaning got no brass. (Broke)

 

 

boracic lint = skint is probably what he meant.

[MtB]

3 hours ago, alias said:

 

boracic lint = skint is probably what he meant.

 

Exactly, what with my dad being a real genuine Cockney (born within the sound of Bow Bells). 

 

"Brassic" does not appear in my dictionary unlike "boracic", so I think it is probably actually a corruption of "boracic".

[mrsmelly]

10 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Exactly, what with my dad being a real genuine Cockney (born within the sound of Bow Bells). 

 

"Brassic" does not appear in my dictionary unlike "boracic", so I think it is probably actually a corruption of "boracic".

Mad Harold being from oop in Uddersfield will undoubtedly mean Brassic, as in skint, a well known saying.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Mad Harold being from oop in Uddersfield will undoubtedly mean Brassic, as in skint, a well known saying.

 

 

Yes. A well known saying originating from the Cockney "borassic lint" = skint

 

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-185191,00.html

[Tracy D'arth]

19 hours ago, Mad Harold said:

Surely a more fundamental question would be, will the canals still be cruisable?

News is full of doom and gloom about the economy and talk of massive government spending cuts.It's unlikely that canals will be top of the list for finance.

BORACIC??   Do you mean the Northern word BRASSIC? Meaning got no brass. (Broke)

 

Brassic Lint = Skint.  Rhyming slang, is it Northern though? Medical Boracic Lint would make more sense.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Tracy D'arth

[mrsmelly]

56 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Yes. A well known saying originating from the Cockney "borassic lint" = skint

 

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-185191,00.html

Naaah, a Yorkshireman would never use crap slang from London, way too inferior.

[peterboat]

29 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Naaah, a Yorkshireman would never use crap slang from London, way too inferior.

Ah wud av sed pink lint 

[Jon57]

Just had a notification about 2 price reductions on boats for sale at Rugby boats. Not seen that for quite a while. James usually moves the boats on quite quickly. Has the bubble burst? 

[JamesFrance]

I noticed 10 new sales additions at Aqueduct marina so maybe the sell off of boats bought during covid is starting, some at what seem to be excessive prices so they may well hang around for some time.

[mrsmelly]

5 hours ago, JamesFrance said:

I noticed 10 new sales additions at Aqueduct marina so maybe the sell off of boats bought during covid is starting, some at what seem to be excessive prices so they may well hang around for some time.

House prices in our county have risen 18 percent in the last twelve months, bloody ridiculous and one of the worst in the UK. By worst I mean of course highest rises. However, today I looked in the window of the estate agent across the road and there were 3 properties with reduced on them. This is the first time since  moved here in june last year that there have been any reduced in his window. So a slow down has indeed occurred and I have seen over the years that house prices and boat prices seem to go up and down together. I expect personaly that hobby boats, motorhomes etc that were bought during covid whilst travel abroad was banned or hard, will start to decrease across the board as burning fossil fuel to fly abroad on jollies picks up momentum again.

Edited October 12, 2022 by mrsmelly

[matty40s]

6 hours ago, Jon57 said:

Just had a notification about 2 price reductions on boats for sale at Rugby boats. Not seen that for quite a while. James usually moves the boats on quite quickly. Has the bubble burst? 

See my comment from Sunday,

 

We have noticed a certain greed from sellers, not only in brokerages, but Appilloduck too,  trying to make the most of their prized possession, not always realising that what was in vogue 20 years ago is not necessarily in vogue now.

These boats tend to sit on brokerages with very few viewings until at least one or two revisions in price makes it more acceptable to the modern boat buyers

the sellers overinflated view of the value of their boats has now been replaced by a value nearer to a realistic sales price.

The rest of the reasonably valued boats James has are still selling within days, if not hours of arrival.

[Mad Harold]

14 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

 I expect personaly that hobby boats, motorhomes etc that were bought during covid whilst travel abroad was banned or hard, will start to decrease across the board as burning fossil fuel to fly abroad on jollies picks up momentum again.

I'll drink to that!

 

Mind,I'll drink to anything.    😝

[JamesFrance]

On 12/10/2022 at 15:57, JamesFrance said:

I noticed 10 new sales additions at Aqueduct marina so maybe the sell off of boats bought during covid is starting, some at what seem to be excessive prices so they may well hang around for some time.

Five of these have already been reduced, a recent Collingwood from I think 145K to 120K is one.