Review of the Market 2025-2026

by Sue Grant

It is very hard to believe that the Berthon Book is twenty-one this year! As the yacht market together with the rest of Planet Earth changes, this publication that we love to put together annually, remains a glory of great articles from Berthon team members, friends and supporters; together with a full-name check of the real stars – which are of course, the Berthon fleet.

Reviewing the yacht market can only really be accomplished if you take the massive changes that we have seen politically and economically since 2024 into account. Working within an industry full of people who are passionate about yachts and for sailors who are yacht mad too, it is easy to forget that we are a very small cog within the planet’s markets – I am often reminded that here in the UK at least, the industry is smaller than the UK ice cream industry. Those of us who do not live in the UK will need to remember that our green and pleasant land is thus because of the extraordinary amount of rain and cool weather we endure through most seasons. Sunny ice cream days can normally be counted on the fingers of a couple of hands in a normal UK summer. Of course, 2025 has seen one of the driest summers on record, so everyone has to run fast to catch up with the British ice cream barons!

^ Jason Batterham / stock.adobe.com

Other markets have seen massive changes with tectonic shifts in the established relationships between nations throughout the world. The tariffs imposed by the USA have seen huge currency shifts, stock and bond market movements and huge changes to the accepted ways of doing business and to well defi ned relationships between nations.

It is inevitable that this must affect the yachting business and indeed it has done so. Already down gearing after the Covid bounce to a more stable and recognisable market, the biggest issue in 2024 was the cost delta between new and pre-owned yachts caused by vastly increased material and labour costs. There was plenty of interest in yacht purchase but without the appetite to spend 40% more on a new yacht over a newish brokerage yacht with the same features.

Our business is about confidence and when stocks are falling and there is plenty of currency shift, this provides a break in demand and a willingness to spend on a new yacht. Yet, despite these factors, yacht buyers in the main are made of sterner stuff and the market still moves, particularly in the segments where buyer can see both value and an exit with reasonable residual value.

Berthon has been trading continuously since 1877, so whilst the crew has of course changed over the years, the business has seen many difficult times as well as good ones. We take a long-term view of the business and always remember that the glass is better half full. In 2025 we have been laser focused on the renewal and upgrade of our marketing look and feel for website, print advertising, on-line as well as of course in this publication. Our decision two years ago to increase the amount of video content and high-quality imagery has stood us in good stead and as technology improves and we learn more about the possibilities available, we have been able to continually raise our game. We recognise that this is a process and not an event and so we work on all aspects of our offering, thus delivering a more effective platform to enable us to sell our clients’ yachts.

Unless you live in a cave and communicate purely with the use of conch shells, it is impossible to escape the influence of AI and the huge benefits (as well as potential dangers) that it brings. Whilst you will see no text or articles written by the lovely Chat GPT, it does bring benefits in terms of language translations and delivery of good information about the best way to frame online banners and such.

^ WCC Open Day 2025 in Berthon Lymington Marina

Our relationship with World Cruising who curate the amazing ARC, World ARC, Atlantic Rally for Cruisers and a number of other events has deepened this year, with events at which Berthon are participating in Annapolis as well as at our Lymington HQ. The appetite for sailors to take time out to cross oceans with other like-minded souls and to do so with the benefit of all the experience and know how offered by World Cruising is growing. We are also working with them on their tree planting programme in the Canaries, of which you will read more later in the publication.

Our UK office is busy with sales both in its home market and internationally. The UK market has now settled, and the VAT situation has normalised with a healthy market of yachts both sale and power transacting in the UK, where our waters favour yachts of under sixty-five feet and also those with good protection against our dreadful weather. These yachts are well able to cruise in Europe on a normal 18-month Temporary Arrangement, returning to the UK to be sold, thereby retaining their VAT paid status. Whereas just after Brexit many yachts left UK waters for VAT free cruising in Europe, now we are seeing them return to find a new owner, and so our sales gantries in the UK are fuller than we have seen for some years.

In Sweden we have added to our Team as the business grows naturally because of the enduring appetite for the amazingly good condition yachts in our home market there – all stored in hangars in the winter-time and used for only a short season. What has been interesting are the increasing numbers of Swedish buyers who we are now helping and are enjoying getting out on the water in their wonderful home cruising grounds.

The Island of Orust is home to some pretty spectacularly good yacht builders, and increasingly we are also working in the international market place as Hallberg-Rassy, Sweden, Arcona and the like are superb bluewater yachts and sail far. As Berthon Scandinavia develops, owners are more frequently asking for Swedish yacht brokerage help where, using our offices in the Mediterranean and on the East Coast of the USA, we offer them a very comprehensive and effective selling service.

The Mediterranean continues to be a key centre of operation for the Berthon Sales Group. Our new HQ for our Service team in Mallorca at STP has been a great investment, putting us at the centre of the service action on the island. It also makes it easier to manage the projects that we are working on in Palma. We retained our big blue shed in Sant Omes, which is bursting at the seams with superyacht tenders with us for storage, as well as our engineering workshops.

^ Berthon Spain guardiennage service team

Of course, the island is also key for yacht sales and so this year we have expanded our sales office on the Paseo Maritimo, welcoming Henk Sijbranda to our team. An experienced yacht broker having previously worked both at De Valk and HollandBoat, he has now come south in search of sun, Mediterranean sailing and a dynamic yacht sales market.

Berthing prices in Mallorca have always been reassuringly expensive. In 2025 they reached whole new levels making them stratospheric rather than reassuring and thus, many yachts have left the Balearics. Whilst we believe that this is a blip in the narrative of the centre of yachting in the Mediterranean, it has seen ports in mainland Spain fill up. We offer support both in Valencia and in the Barcelona area, helping with sourcing berthing, guardiennage, service and yacht sales. We have people on the ground and have the infrastructure to handle yacht sales in these areas too.

We began our relationship with Filippo Martini as we wanted to develop a footprint in the large Italian yacht market which Filippo knows well. Our business relationship with him is now developing and we have learned much from him about the Italian way of yacht brokerage which is unique to Italy. We have been able to drive marketing and clients to Filippo and this year we have started to improve and develop the online tools that Filippo needs to increase our presence in this important market.

Berthon USA has always been the jewel in the Berthon crown, and it continues to develop with a new broker Jonathan Banks in our Newport office. He is an experienced broker and is helping us to develop our offering in the USA further. Of course, financial and geo-political turbulence has been felt everywhere in 2025, but Berthon USA is close to the blast zone. What has been encouraging is that the USA market continues to operate and as we thought, American sailors love their waters on both East and West coasts but are also very open to sailing in areas outside the reach of tariffs. In fact, we sold a new Moody 41 for delivery and use in the Mediterranean to an American, days before the first tariffs were announced, and this trend is developing.

For sure, new yacht sales have been the most challenging part of the market this year. With the Berthon stable comprising Solaris Sail and Power, Moody, Pegasus, Rustler and Sealine, we have not been immune. However, by choosing the new yacht product we offer carefully and working with shipyards with whom we have a strong relationship, we have been able to continue to sell new yachts. For Solaris we have delivered a Solaris 55 sail and Solaris 64RS sail, together with a Solaris 40 Power. We have also sold two Pegasus 50s, one new, and one preowned, as well as a Moody 48 and Moody 41.

The pipeline is not exciting but high-quality yachts that offer the opportunity for personalisation and for their owners to develop a relationship both with the Shipyard and with us, definitely works best in this market, where it is easy for people to keep their chequebooks firmly in their pockets if the offering is not extraordinarily compelling.

So, as for some years, we really do live in interesting times. From Covid upwards and downwards, we are used to external influences that change the shape of our market and which encourage us to do things differently and to constantly work to raising our game. I believe that one of the reasons that we have weathered the storms of the last ten years is because of our brilliant team of brokers and support staff, and because we like and respect one another and of course we love what we do. We continue to operate with a team that rarely changes and we now have literally hundreds of years of yacht broking experience between us. A knotty problem at Berthon is likely not solved by AI or a lawyer, but by chatting to members of the team that span five offices in four countries over two continents, where all those years of experience will find the correct answer.

Likewise, product knowledge is all and with a 55% repeat business record and welcoming yachts back multiple times to be sold does count. The very exciting development of the multihull market is one that we are very focused on with Ben Cooper and Andrew Fairbrass heading up the Multihull team at Berthon of which you will hear more as this gains traction.

Our diverse range of brokerage yachts brings us into contact with electric drive, solar, foiling, lithium set ups and much more and we are excited about these new developments as well as the new construction methods and materials from 3D printing to carbon and more. Understanding these innovations and how they will affect our market is a key part of what we do.

So, if you are after a stunning looking yacht with genius wizardry below decks, a rocket propelled clockwork yacht or a race boat that will knock the spots off the competition, you will likely find her amongst the Berthon Fleet. It is the yachts that are the glue that holds our Berthon family together and we thank their owners for trusting us with their sale.

Wishing you fair winds and good sailing from us all.

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