We have good news for art lovers and collectors: paintings not only fill people’s hearts, but also their pockets. This year, art has been the most profitable luxury investment: it has revalued 29% in the last 12 months, according to The Wealth Report, from the international consulting firm Knight Frank.
This report analyzes world wealth, real estate prime and investment and global trends. In addition, it includes an index that measures the evolution of ten non-real estate luxury goods. And this year is basically saying that even when high net worth people accompany their passions with their wealth, they hardly lose any money.
In fact, half of the assets featured in it appreciated in double digits by 2022. According to the study, the most expensive item purchased by an investor last year was an Andy Warhol painting called Shot Sage Blue Marilynfor 195 million euros at a Christie’s auction.
After art, classic cars are the second most profitable asset, having risen 25% in value and obtaining its best record in the last nine years. In this case, a valued sale of a Mercedez-Benz Unlenhaut Coupé for 143 million euros broke the record for the most expensive car last year.
And the podium is completed by luxury watches, which ranked third, with a revaluation of 18%. As Sebastián Duty of Art Market Research points out, “A significant part of art’s performance has been driven by the stellar prices paid by major collectors for museum works. Some rare collections produced excesses totaling $2.5 billion, plus double collection sales in 2021”.
Also in the top 10 are luxury bags, wines and jewelry, which although they fell from their top positions to 5th, 6th and 8th place respectively, continue to remain profitable investments. Bags returned 15%, wine 10%, and jewelry only 6%. The coins came in at 7th place, giving returns of 8%. And while quality whiskey has only appreciated 3%, it has returned 373% over the past decade.
The report also analyzes the evolution of housing prices prime worldwide. These are homes located in the heart of the most important capitals or in front of the beaches most desired with prices ranging between 3,500 and 6,000 euros per square meter or more, and which have luxury rooms. Normally, in times of crisis they are usually safe assets.
Dubai is, according to the study, the city where its price increased the most: 44% in 2022, which makes it the epicenter of luxury for assets of more than 30 million euros. London and New York also appear, which are the cities in which it exists largest sale of homes ultra prime in the residential area, those over 25 million. In total there were 43 transactions in each of these cities. In Spain only Madrid appears, with an increase of 6% in this type of residences.
On the other hand, the report also indicates that the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and France were the main destinations for private capital in 2022, which acquired products for a total of 455,000 million euros, taking advantage of the revaluation of assets. and the favorable situation of currencies, a record that represents 41% of the world total.
Image: Christie’s