EXPERTS REJECT PREDICTION OF MARKET CRASH
Auctioneers and price pundits rubbish suggestions that classic values are slipping – although they admit a post-election lull
Market experts have hit back at suggestions from a leading price index that classic car values are declining.
Coutts’ Luxury Price Index reports that prices for older cars have fallen by 10.4 per cent over the past year, but price experts and auctioneers say that the statistics reflect high-end cars at the top end of the market, and that there is still plenty of demand for more attainable classics.
Although some auctioneers have conceded that there was a lull in the market after the election, prices and sales percentages have since recovered and there is still a healthy appetite for classics.
Silverstone Auctions manager Adam Rutter says: ‘ We’re not seeing any problems in the mid or low range, other than that sub-standard cars are not making silly prices like they used to.’
Leading auction houses have hit back at claims from the mainstream press that classic car values are in steep decline.
The Times, Daily Mail, Sun and Guardian are all reporting a major slump in the market, citing the Coutts Luxury Price Index which analyses collectable assets.
Mohammad Kamal Syed, Coutts’ managing director says: ‘Classic cars have seen the largest fall in 2016 at -10.4 per cent. Despite this, cars have still gained the most across the index categories since 2005, increasing fourfold.’
The Daily Mail tried to explain why the market ‘is on the skids’ by linking Coutts’ report to an unspecified decline in the number of mechanics able to work on classics, suggesting that values could be dropping across the board as maintaining the cars becomes more difficult, but market experts and auctioneers dispute the claim.
Historics at Brooklands says that it is experiencing a busy market. During its September 23 sale, many lots far exceeded their estimates and a sale rate of 72 per cent was achieved. Historics’s auction director, Edward Bridger- Still, says Coutts’ review is ‘doom-laden and rarefied’, doubting the relevance of a report on 2016’s auction results in autumn 2017.
Both Historics and Brightwells have admitted that they suffered a ‘post-election blip’ during the summer months, but both say that the market has returned to buoyancy.
Brightwells’ consultant James Dennison, says: ‘Buyers are definitely choosier these days than they were a year or so back, [ but] there is no slackening in demand across the board.’
September as a whole, however, has been inconsistent for some, with an average sale rate of 64 per cent across the auction houses. This is the lowest figure of the past six months, but does not suggest any trend just yet, with sale rates stable between 60-75 per cent. Certainly, there is no sign of the collapse that the mainstream press has pointed to.
Silverstone Auctions sales manager, Adam Rutter, adds: ‘ We’re not seeing any problems in the mid or low range, other than that substandard cars are not making silly prices like they used to. Quality cars that have good provenance will continue to sell for high prices now and in the future.’
Auction specialist and CCW contributor, Richard HudsonEvans, cautions not to take too much stock in Coutts’ index, saying: ‘Itchart the prices of high-value investor-grade automobiles…its sector health warning is largely irrelevant to consumers of more affordable classics.’