US Reclaims Top Art Market

The Art Newspaper has a preview of economist Clare McAndrew's art market report from TEFAF.  McAndrew reports the Chinese market is still strong, and a driver of art for the emerging markets, but the US is back on top.  Although the top spot is tenuous at best and is connected to other broader financial and economic issues. McAndrew notes the US art market grew by 5%, while the Chinese market cooled considerably, with a decline of 24%.

The report indicates the UK saw only a small increase while much of the other European sales saw declines.

The  Art Newspaper reports

The fine art sector has dominated growth and it continues to be where many record prices are achieved. Post-war and contemporary art had the strongest sales, with a 43% share of the fine art market’s value. Within this sector, the “flight to safety” among art buyers was obvious, with the heaviest buying concentrated on well-established artists who have a proven track record achieving the highest prices. Auction houses have been successful in securing some of the best works for sale for the small number of blue-chip contemporary artists, which has forced some dealers to start looking at a wider range of artists, including new or “higher risk” artists in the primary market.

Different national markets have also shown mixed performances. The rise in sales during 2011 was buoyed in part by Chinese auction houses, however after two years of exceptional increases, growth slowed significantly last year. The value of sales in the Chinese market decreased by 24% to €10.6bn as demand cooled and lower priced works of a lesser quality came on to the market. However, counterbalancing this sharp decline to some degree, sales in the US experienced an uplift of 5% over the past year, reaching a high of €14.3bn.

Most European markets performed poorly in 2012. Sales were virtually stagnant in the UK, while nearly all the other large markets such as France, Germany and Italy experienced declines, and overall sales in the EU down by 3%. This result is in part due to the fact that most sales in Europe are for middle to lower priced art, which has shown the most weakness in the market. The continuing economic problems in the Eurozone, which slipped back into recession in 2012 after two years of low growth, have also led to declining consumer confidence and a cautious investment climate in many markets, including art.

Source: The Art Newspaper