The boat market was never going to tank. But demand has gone way, way down over pandemic levels and IMO, I think prices and demand are now lower and heading downward.
The demand for recreational toys is not infinite. A lot of people took the opportunity to scratch that itch during the pandemic on both new and used toys. Many of the ones who stuck with it now have the toys they want, so they aren’t heading back to the dealer or Marketplace anytime soon to stoke more demand.
And the ones who didn’t stick with it are flooding the market with both 2-3-year-old toys and even older units that pandemic buyers rushed out to buy and that they discovered they no longer have the time to use or ended up not wanting as badly as they thought. This is pushing down the used side of the equation.
It’s very noticeable on the used side of the market right now. Rigs that I KNOW would have been snapped up in days have been sitting on the classifieds sites for months. Some buyers are slowly cutting prices, but others are trying to hold on to get high prices, probably to cover loans.
Traditionally, October has been a terrific time to buy and a terrible time to sell, but on the seller side of the equation, this year is looking even slower than normal because the demand is just not there.
The guys who are really going to make out well this year are the guys renting storage. I can see a LOT of sellers out there being forced to pay for storage this winter in hope of better prices in the spring.