Crunching the numbers
‘The highest number of classics went under the hammer in April’
During the first four months trading, the highest sale rates in the UK have been when auction cars were driven past the rostrum. An average of 94% of classics have sold at SWVA’s early season drive-throughs at Poole, while a market-leading 513 cars have so far motored through the ACA hall at King’s Lynn, where there were buyers for 394 or 77% of them. In addition, Brightwells sold 82% of static-displayed cars at Leominster.
Analysing the stats from those auction houses whose ‘live’ hammer prices are confirmed by published results, the highest number of classics went under the hammer during April, when 893 were catalogued, nearly as many as had been offered in March and February together. But the 65% sale rate for the 581 cars declared sold was 10% less than it had been in March and 20% less than at the January auctions. The £11,371 average price of a classic car at auction in April was considerably less than the £37,927 and £28,250 averages paid per car during March and February.
According to the Historic Automobile Group International, whose HAGI Top Index fell by 0.76% during April and by 3.33% this year to date, the monitored prices of higher value collector vehicles have continued to correct. Indeed, four out of five of their Indices declined last month, with only the HAGI MBCI that charts Mercedes prices being in positive territory with a 1.86% hike for the month and 4.62% growth for the first four months.
By contrast, the Ferrari charting HAGI F recorded a loss of 1.83% in April, with Ferrari prices down by nearly 2% for the year to date, whereas the HAGI P for Porsches corrected by another 0.99% last month and meant achieved Porsche prices have fallen by 3.85% since January.