After a significant decline in 2020, the global art market returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, generating $65.1 million, according to an annual survey published today by Art Basel and UBS. That number is about $15 billion more than the figure McAndrew reported last year for 2020, and just over the $64 billion it reported in 2019.
Economist Claire McAndrew, who wrote the report, surveyed several hundred international galleries and more than 2,000 high-net-worth collectors in the US, UK, Asia and Europe.
The United States remains the largest national market for art trade, occupying 43 percent of the total value share. In second and third place are China and the United Kingdom, with 20 and 17 per cent, respectively.
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The United States saw sales increase by 33 percent, to about $28 billion in 2021. Sales in Greater China increased by 35 percent, to $13.4 billion.
Merchants and auction houses have successfully adapted to a new two-tiered system of online and offline sales and events, and increasing wealth. [high net worth] Collectors helped support demand at the higher end of the market, McAndrew said in a statement accompanying the report.
Perhaps the most notable trend for the art market in the past year has been the NFT boom. Based on McAndrew’s report, it appears that many collectors have invested in this direction.
Nearly three-quarters of collectors surveyed purchased art-related NFTs in 2021, and sales of NFTs via online platforms reached $2.6 billion. More than half of the collectors surveyed reported interest in acquiring digital artwork in the next year, with millennials being the majority.
Showroom sales reached $34.7 billion in 2021. This is an 18 percent increase from 2020. More than half of the merchants surveyed said their sales increased in 2021, while 26 percent reported a decrease in sales compared to the same period in 2020. Thirteen percent of merchants saw sales remain at the same level between 2020 and 2021.
In-person events are back in full force last year, but it seems art galleries still aren’t helping traders as much as they used to before the pandemic. Sales made by dealers at art fairs accounted for 29 percent of their total annual sales in 2021, according to a McAndrew report. This number is still a far cry from the 43 percent reported in 2019.
Meanwhile, auction sales reached $26.3 billion in 2021, a 47 percent increase over total sales in 2020. Private sales at auction houses brought in $4.1 billion, up 32 percent from $3.1 billion in 2020. The United States and China are the largest public auction sales markets, with 32 percent and 33 percent of shares, respectively.
A McAndrew report stated that online sales continued to grow in 2021. Online sales channels accounted for 20 percent of all merchant sales, to reach $13.3 billion (including sales made via showrooms hosted by online art galleries). The number is more than double the numbers McAndrew reported for 2019.
The ongoing global crisis has not deterred the wealthy from investing in art. The average spending of collectors surveyed in the report nearly doubled between 2020 and 2021, reaching $274,000 last year. This rise was driven in part by baby boomers, who, despite buying less business than their younger counterparts, had the highest total average spend, at $346,000.
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