Review of the Market 2026-2027

BY TIM CARBURY, BERTHON SALES GROUP

As I step in to write my first Review of the Market in the Berthon Book as Managing Director of the Berthon Sales Group, the publication celebrates its twenty-second birthday. It is unique to Berthon and part of the fabric of an organisation that places teamwork, professionalism and a passion for yachts at the core of everything that it does. Unlike the standard house magazines released by colleagues in the industry, the Berthon Book comes from the heart. Here you won’t find any external advertising, only articles that have passed the Berthon sniff test because they feature subjects that we are fascinated with, all original, and only written by Berthon family or supporters. We also feature a selection of the Berthon Fleet.

The rollercoaster of macro-economic and political world events keep humankind on its toes and this affects us all. In yachting, we are sensitive to what this means to our clients – both buyers and owners. Fortunately, the call of the sea is strong and as a Group 2025/26 has been kind to us with numbers in the ascendant, helped by the fact that we are primarily yacht brokers working in the brokerage market and so new yacht sales are not our core mission.

Talking of new yacht sales, even the most optimistic of us would have to admit that this part of the market is difficult and continues to be so. Manufacturers are fighting reduced demand, increased material costs driven by fuel cost, inflation and uncertainty, the need to build in this environment and then sell for more than their costs. This makes the delta between new yachts and the brokerage market wide. Of course, there are still those for whom only a new yacht will do – and for them there has never been a better time to buy. Although numbers fall, as ever there will be enough of these buyers to keep this part of our industry afloat.

^ Pegasus 50

Production yacht sales are difficult – production motor yachts particularly so with their unit cost and the cost of fuel also. Smaller bespoke yards are faring better, as they are nimble and offer a product that is unique in its positioning and the capability it offers.

We represent Pegasus Yachts from Slovenia who are a good example of this. They have the first 2 hulls of their innovative 67 in build, both for delivery in 2027. Their 50 which is where it all started, remains popular and they are up to hull #022 of this series which is a great result, showing that good design, competent build and an appreciation of what works for owners is what the market seeks. They have recently appointed journalist and sailor Pip Hare as their shorthanded sailing consultant, further underlining their marketing position as builders of fast cruising yachts that are uncompromisingly owner/ driver focused. We enjoy working with the Pegasus team and enjoy their passion for what they do.

Higher quality new yacht offerings are also selling, like Solaris Sail and Power, their experienced management team and solid financials enabling them to be innovative and to provide new yachts to the client base that also have a strong residual. This year in addition to holding the Solaris Sail territories for the UK, East coast of the USA, Finland and Sweden, we also agreed to manage sales for Solaris in the Balearics with our friends at Luxury Marine, showing a Solaris 50 and 64RS at the Palma Boat Show in May.

At our Lymington HQ, brokerage sales have been brisker than we expected, assisted by the opportunity to present high quality pre-owned yachts in good condition with good service records at sensible prices. The mature, outlandish and poor condition yachts on the market are struggling. What is shabby chic to her current owner, looks like a money pit to buyers wanting to have the security of knowing the on-costs and that if circumstances dictate, they can exit without a long wait and high on-costs, and at a price that is palatable.

Another initiative born at HQ and rolled out to our other offices has been the introduction of our Berthon Essentials brand for our smaller listings to ensure that they receive the same focused and effective marketing as our larger listings with a separate website as well as YachtWorld. A dedicated broker, Ben Hitchen, manages the brand and works with all our offices to make this initiative flourish.

Berthon Scandinavia continues to deliver exceptional results and to list, know intimately and sell, some of the smartest yachts on the planet, which spend the long Scandinavian winters tucked up inside in temperature controlled sheds. Teak decks are virgin, rigs are out and stored under cover every winter and nothing is left out in the weather. The business headed up by Magnus Kullberg and Fredrik Sundberg is growing and if you have never visited the wonderful island of Orust, I would encourage you to do so. It is beautiful and the sailing is fabulous.

Berthon USA has found itself in the epicentre of world events and has been buffeted by tariffs and all that this means for the domestic USA market, as well as the fallout of wars, fuel prices and political uncertainty. For sure this has slowed new yacht sales in our home market, as Moodys and Rustlers attract a healthy supplement on import. The domestic market has legs where clients are prepared to buy in an uncertain environment. For many Americans the answer has been to buy a yacht outside home waters so the yacht arbitrage between Berthon’s European offices and Newport is an important part of the offering. We urge our American clients not to worry about the welcome they might receive in Europe – we all love you guys and are so happy to see you in our waters and sharing our mutual love of our sport.

Berthon International Spain is part of the Berthon Group that is particularly close to my heart, having joined Berthon in January as Head of Sales in Spain. I moved to the UK in March to take over the Group at HQ, but having worked in Palma for ten years as a yacht broker, first for Fraser Yachts and then for Moravia Yachting, I understand the potential in Palma as well as in mainland Spain. The centre of yacht sales in the Mediterranean, Palma is changing fast with a new waterfront and more super and mega yacht berths. Also evident is the migration of smaller yachts from the ports as the increasing port and service costs have encouraged them to the mainland. However for yachts of over 24 metres it remains the centre of choice.

Which brings me to Berthon Spain, our wonderful Service business skilfully managed by Andrew and Rowan Fairbrass. The Big Blue Berthon shed in Son Oms, Mallorca continues to bustle with activity, storing superyacht tenders as well as our engineering and hydraulics function. It is also home to accounts and infrastructure for the business. Our skilled technicians are increasingly in demand aboard yachts of 40 metres and above and this plays to the trend in Palma for larger yachts. This year we moved from STP to develop our footprint on the mainland where yachts from 60 to 100 feet are plentiful. For some time, we have had teams working on the mainland and it made sense to focus our efforts on guardiennage and refit in this area. We are now developing the business further with a new office in Port Ginesta, 10 minutes from Barcelona Airport, that we opened in July. We are excited about the possibilities that it offers for us to support our clients.

The mechanics of selling yachts in terms of contract, VAT, title and all the rest are growing in complexity but the thing that we have been really focused on this year has been the increasing incidences of phishing and a whole host of cyber threats to ourselves and our clients. Sending and receiving funds has become a multifaceted process as we have to be totally sure that funds aren’t tampered with and the sending of test payments, verbal verification and checking several times before pressing the send button is now second nature.

Together with these issues have been the growth of the unfriendly bot, and the increasingly imaginative ways in which those who would cheat us try to gain our confidence with emails that look increasingly credible and which pose a major threat to our business. Being part of a larger business with an effective IT department, Berthon goes to great lengths to ensure that our firewalls (the IT equivalent of the boiling oil poured down the castle walls) are effective and monitored constantly.

Artificial intelligence is much written about at Berthon for the short cuts it provides, assistance in yacht construction and management and more. Nothing that you read in these pages will have been generated this way, but we recognise the huge potential it has to change our sport for the better, taking man hours and cost out of many processes and delivering the ability for all of us to do much more. Of course, with these benefits come fake enquiries and despite the huge benefits we always remember that AI is only as good as the quality of the information it is able to fetch.

The market is shifting and changing quickly and it is important that as a team, we shift too. The super and mega yacht segments of our sport are extremely active. New build is busy and there is a high level of demand in the pre-owned market. At the lower end of our sport, increasing costs for anything that is marine related is forcing traditional, local sailors out of the sport and this trend is not likely to change as large conglomerates see the attractive yields to be had from floating car parks the world over. They are buying marinas, branding them and moving prices upwards. The workshops and entry costs for local contractors then also rise in price so the costs attached to anything that floats rises with it. The middle of the market as ever is squeezed but still operating fluidly albeit yachtsmen are being careful where they choose to spend their €, $ or £ to ensure they get value.

^ Berthon Market Report 2026

The Berthon Market Report which is released each year at Easter provides a precis of the year before as well as an overview of the important changes that we are seeing. The common denominator running through its various editions is all around the not very exciting or sexy subject of VAT. I see you raise your eyes heavenward and mutter Brexit. Well, yes there is that, but by far the most testing part of the subject is understanding the treatment of yachts in relation to VAT in different parts of the European Union. There is no common policy, it changes dependent on area and on the Customs official with whom you are dealing. In many cases it has the feel of the bazaar about it and with a punch line of up to 27% of the value of your yacht it is a significant potential problem. A lot of work goes into understanding the current nuances of this issue at Berthon.

The Berthon Sales Group team are all very experienced at what they do and it’s great to lead an organisation where everyone likes and respects one another. The flow of information and cooperation across all the offices is a real strength. However, our greatest strength for sure, is the wonderful Berthon clients who trust us to buy and sell for them and who give us the opportunity to join them on their yachting voyage whether it takes them from the racetrack to ocean crossing, puddle jumping to roaring around at high speed. For as we all know, whatever your method of attack, there is nothing to beat getting out on the water.

Read Another Article
Download The Berthon Book 2026-2027 XXII (18.806MB)