Berthon USA Review | 2025

By Jennifer Stewart, Alan Baines, Bill Rudkin, Peter and Jeanie Houghton, Jonathan Banks and Drew Donald

The US market in the last 12 months has been the tale of two diverging arcs. For brokerage yachts, demand definitely softened, meaning more yachts had price reductions, and the supply and demand balance definitely tipped back in favor of the buyer. In many ways, it felt like a return to the market norms of pre-Covid times.

Therefore, sellers had to work harder to prepare their yachts for sale. Buyers do not want to see dirt, disarray, or neglect. As brokers we have had to work harder to ensure that the yachts we are listing for sale have good imagery, video, and other material. With all those parameters satisfied, and sensible pricing, then the buyers are still there.

On the new boat side of the market it has been, frankly, very difficult for the manufacturers. Faced with skyrocketing demand during Covid, they were hampered by supply chain problems causing huge delays but then came the price rises, and it was as if ‘the elastic snapped back’. By the time the manufacturers could deliver the yachts, pricing had got ahead of the market, and demand disappeared. Many stocking dealers ended up with a large backlog of unsold stock, and the pipelines were well and truly stuffed! Of course, this was also true with the car industry.

Dealers have been discounting (for the first time in years) to clear the dealer lots, and get the supply demand equation back into balance. It does seem that we as an industry appear to be at the tail end of that, and going forward may be more like normal times. After no inflation for many years, being faced with significant inflation levels has been a jolt for everyone. Geez! Have you seen the price of eggs? There is still a resistance to paying around US $1m for a 40-foot sailing yacht, but in many cases this is the new reality.

Other factors that are affecting our maritime world include the lack of marina slips/berths which caused the prices to rise significantly across the piece. And then there is the fact that there are no berths available in some areas, regardless of the price that yacht owners are prepared to pay. Mom and Pop marinas are disappearing, as they sell to a few large Wall Street or private equity financed buyers; and whilst these groups have invested in what were typically very undercapitalized facilities, the resulting slip price rises have further pushed the operating and holding cost of all yachts upwards.

The insurance market is also tougher than it used to be, and with each disaster or hurricane, fewer insurance underwriters want to have anything to do with yachts in a risky area. It’s the same for houses!

The final unknown in our part of the world is the looming possibility of Tariffs. As we write this, they are looming, and it seems inevitable that some will be put in place. Like everyone, we prefer dealing with knowns, and not unknowns, and so until we know the percentage amount, many of our new yacht buyers are in ‘wait and see’ mode. Or deciding to just enjoy the yacht overseas for a while!

So, let’s talk about what we did sell, because it was a good year, and we delivered two new yachts; a fully loaded Moody DS48 (the first to be seen in US waters) and a really beautiful white hulled Rustler 37’, which is now the fourth of the model to be in US ownership. We are working hard to get a new Rustler 41’ powerboat sold into the US. This motor yacht looks great, performs well, and is a serious competitor to popular yachts in the States such as Sabre and East Bay. Brokerage Sales were busy both in the US and in Europe with several transactions taking place in Europe selling to American buyers.

We have had a good start so far to 2025 with three yachts currently under agreement; one in Italy, and two Swans in the US. Both the Swans we know well as we sold them as new yachts many years ago, and we’re selling them for the third or fourth time. We have added two brokers to the team, welcoming Jonathan Banks, another British expat who is an ex-Swan 57’ captain, and has been involved at the executive level in several marine related businesses. Jonathan is working out of our Newport office, and in the winter can be sometimes found on his yacht in Charleston, SC.

We also welcomed Drew Donald. He is based in the Chesapeake area, and will dramatically increase our footprint in that important part of the US.

The seven of us look forward to assisting with your yacht buying and selling needs this year!

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