Superyacht Sales Plunge 17% as Oligarchs Drop Out

The sale of new superyachts, yachts over 100 feet long, plummeted by 17% in 2023, according to SuperYacht Times’ State of Yachting report, CNBC reports.

Sales of the most luxurious yachts fell because of soaring costs, waiting lists as long as four years, and Russian oligarchs facing sanctions who have dropped out of the market, says Robert Dazert, head of intelligence at SuperYacht Times.

Sales of the largest superyachts, vessels over 650 feet long, fell 40% last year.

“The Russians were prone to ordering very extravagant and very large yachts,” Dazert says.

A buyer of a new yacht 200 feet or longer today will have to wait as long as four years due to backlogs stemming all the way back to the coronavirus pandemic.

While ultra-wealthy Americans tend to buy smaller yachts than Middle Eastern and Russian buyers, Dazert says, their boats are getting bigger. The high-water mark, as it were, is rising, he says.

The average length of a Saudi-owned superyacht is 202 feet, slightly longer than the 200 feet of a Russian-owned superyacht, according to the report. Americans’ superyachts average 177 feet long.

There is a growing backlog of superyachts on the market, as orders placed during COVID frenzy are just now being delivered. In fact, the completion of superyachts rose 31% in 2023 to a total of 202.

SuperYacht Times estimates there are now 6,000 superyachts around the world, triple the 2,000 there were in 2002.

“The pool of customers has expanded permanently,” Dazert says.