High-net-worth collectors are optimistic but cautious, Art Basel and UBS Survey reveals. https://ift.tt/AlLZXKW

The spending of high-net-worth (HNW) art collectors—defined spending a minimum of $10,000 on art annually—remained strong in 2023, with a majority remaining optimistic about 2024, according to The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2023. Specifically, the report found that 77% of surveyed HNW collectors expressed optimism about the art market's future performance.

Authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, the report analyzed data from more than 2,800 HNW collectors across 11 global markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mainland China. The survey offers a deep dive into collector’s relationship with the art market, their spending habits, and their preferences for different art mediums.

“Economic and political uncertainty has been looming over the art market in 2023,” McAndrew said in a statement. She added: “Collectors continued to strongly engage in sales and events in 2023, alongside some evidence of more risk-averse approaches and less impulse buying. Self-focused motivations including self-identity and the personal pleasure one derives from owning art remained the biggest drivers for buying in 2023. Though only a small minority of collectors consider themselves investors, many are highly aware of the financial impact of their collecting activities, actively using leverage and credit as well as reselling works from their collections.'”

Here are some key findings from the report:

• Some 54% of HNW collectors in the survey planned on buying art in the next 12 months.
• Some 77% of surveyed HNW collectors expressed optimism for the art market's performance in the upcoming six months.
• The average allocation of art in wealth portfolios by HNW collectors fell to 19% in 2023 from a peak of 24% in 2022.
• Despite a downturn in global imports across various sectors over the first quarter of 2023, art imports to major hubs like Hong Kong, the U.K., and the U.S. saw significant growth, with increases of 50%, 38%, and 15%, respectively.
• HNW collectors primarily purchased through dealers, who accounted for 47% of their total spending, marking a 2% increase from the previous year.
• After a 6% decline in 2022 to $202,000, collectors from Mainland China reported the highest median expenditure in the first half of 2023, reaching $241,000, indicating a solid return to spending behaviors post-lockdown.
• In the first half of 2023, HNW collectors reduced their average art allocation in wealth portfolios to 19%, down from 24% in 2022.
• Some 43% of HNW collectors reported using credit or loaned funds to purchase works for their collections.
• In 2023, HNW collectors primarily invested in paintings, constituting 58% of spending, followed by works on paper at 13%.
• HNW collectors’s spending on digital art dropped to just 3% of their total expenditure, mirroring a broader decline in the NFT market.
• For the third year running, women outspent men with a median of $72,500 in the first half of 2023, although more men spent over $1 million.
• Gen X collectors had the highest average spending on paintings ($145,000) compared to Millennials ($108,000) and also led in expenditures for works on paper.
• Some 86% of HNW collectors bought art from dealers, and among those, 84% purchased in person at the dealer's gallery or location, an increase from 73% in 2022.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/OopeDuv