CCW research has revealed that market prices have fallen year-on-year – but there’s never been a better time to buy your next classic
Figures compiled by Classic Car Weekly examining a dozen auctions from different companies held between September, October and November have revealed a downturn in year-on-year sales totals and the average price paid.
Crunching the numbers – covering more than 2200 classics changing hands - reveals that the exact same number of cars were sold in 2023 as in 2022, with 1126 finding new owners.
While 1596 classics were offered in 2022, 1661 went to auction this year, a four per cent increase in classics being offered at auction.
This mean that the average price paid in 2022 was £36,407 compared to £24,678 in the same period this year, which translates into a 32 per cent decline.
More tellingly, while the 2022 sales total was £58.1m, that sum has fallen to £40.9m this year – a 29 per cent decline.
The keenness to buy clearly remains strong, but external influences – higher household bills, rising interest rates and general political uncertainty – means that even the most hardened enthusiast might prefer to have money in the bank than a classic in the garage.
South Western Vehicle Auctions’ classic car specialist Owen Shepherd said: ‘This has been a strange year. We started off strongly with no hint of a change of market direction but sales of certain cars have become harder as the year has gone on.
Pandemic prices are gone; the boom that we saw throughout that two-year period has now settled and prices are starting to fall back to normal levels.’
Auctioneers have also noted that particular sectors which were performing strongly throughout the pandemic are now seeing some prices slip back, including performance Ford models (full story, page 26).
Some individual classics have made record prices where they have a strong provenance, a particularly good restoration or a low mileage, but good condition hasn’t prevented some classics from selling for less than guided, such as a 1971 MGB GT guided for £6-8k at Hampson Auctions, which sold for £2656..
Head of Brightwells’ classic car department Matthew Parkin added: ‘It has certainly been an interesting year, which showed a marked reduction in the values of almost all classics in the middle part of the year.
It seems that sellers have cottoned on to this and have become more realistic with their expectations and buyers of late have appreciated this and come back into the market – our most recent sales have been buoyant and busy with lots of sales being made – albeit at a lower price level than 12-18 months ago’.
Auction analyst Richard Hudson-Evans said: ’Comparison of 2023 auctions to those reviewed in 2022 shows that the £41m total for the same sales was £17.1m or
