©CHRISTIE’S
Skate’s has released key performance metrics for the global art market measured by the universe of the top 10,000 artworks by auction prices (Skate’s Top 10,000).
The world’s high-end art market crossed the $50 billion mark in the second half of 2014 with an aggregate market value of the top 10,000 artworks by auction prices reaching $50.7 billion as of December 31, 2014. For an artwork to get on the Skate’s Top 10,000 list, the work has to sell for at least $1.51 million.
The two key metrics of the high-end art market largely remained the same—it is comprised of slightly over 600 artists with more than one artwork in the Top 10,000 universe (and more than 300 artists with more than five artworks in it), and 16.6 percent of the trading volume within the Top 10,000 was made of repeat sales, suggesting a fairly strong liquidity of the high-end art. Investment returns continue to be strong with annualized weighted average return on repeat sale being 4.92 percent (returns before ownership costs and taxes).
Table 1. Market Size
|
Dec-31, 2014
|
Jun-30, 2014
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Total value of Skate’s Top 10,000 Artworks | 50,663,864,731 | 48,453,902,321 |
| Percentage of trades being repeat sales | 14.2% | 13.5% |
| Percentage of volume being repeat sales | 16.6% | 16.4% |
| Number of artists with more than 1 trade | 603 | 607 |
| Number of artists with 5 (or more) trades | 309 | 310 |
| Threshold price | 1,507,728 | 1,445,000 |
| Weighted average effective rate of return (ERR) | 4.92% | 4.85% |
Source: http://www.skatepress.com/skates-top-10000/
Picasso and Warhol continue to be the towering artists within the top 10,000 universe in terms of liquidity and size. The Warhol market has significantly overtaken Picasso’s in terms of trading volume ($560 million in high-end trades in 2014 versus $345 million for Picasso), but both remained on par in terms of number of auction trades and repeat sales within the top 10,000 category.
Table 2. Top 10 Artist Markets Within Top 10,000 Price Category
| # | Artist | Number of auction trades in 2014 |
# | Artist | Auction trading volume in 2014, USD |
# | Artist | Number of repeat sales in 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pablo Picasso | 58 | 1 | Andy Warhol | 560,435,539 | 1 | Pablo Picasso | 18 |
| 2 | Andy Warhol | 55 | 2 | Pablo Picasso | 345,101,066 | 2 | Andy Warhol | 17 |
| 3 | Jean-Michel Basquiat | 22 | 3 | Francis Bacon | 302,129,191 | 3 | Claude Monet | 11 |
| 4 | Gerhard Richter | 22 | 4 | Gerhard Richter | 266,038,311 | 4 | Jean-Michel Basquiat | 9 |
| 5 | Claude Monet | 21 | 5 | Claude Monet | 246,884,473 | 5 | Gerhard Richter | 7 |
| 6 | Zao Wou-Ki | 21 | 6 | Alberto Giacometti | 218,195,193 | 6 | Alberto Giacometti | 6 |
| 7 | Joan Miró— | 17 | 7 | Mark Rothko | 203,338,273 | 7 | Lucio Fontana | 6 |
| 8 | Lucio Fontana | 17 | 8 | Jeff Koons | 167,989,716 | 8 | Francis Bacon | 5 |
| 9 | Alberto Giacometti | 16 | 9 | Jean-Michel Basquiat | 158,959,960 | 9 | Roy Lichtenstein | 5 |
| 10 | Alexander Calder | 15 | 10 | Cy Twombly | 136,959,089 | 10 | Yves Klein | 5 |
Source: http://www.skatepress.com/skates-top-10000/
For more Skate’s Top 10,000 statistics please register for Skate’s Research Reports at www.skatepress.com; the latest Skate’s Masterpieces Market Report can be downloaded from http://www.skatepress.com/art-market-reports/skates-masterpieces-market-report/.
This post has been written to promote content produced by Skate’s, which is owned by ARTnews’ parent company. ARTnews is not involved in the creation of its reports.