International art market sales fell 12% in 2024, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, published Tuesday. The annual report, considered the most reliable indicator of the size and health of the art market, said it had declined in sales for the second year in a row.
“The decline in value was driven by cooling at the top,” the report describing 2024 as “a year of continuous geopolitical tension, economic volatility and trade fragmentation.” The report found that auction sales for single work, which had won more than $10 million, fell 39%, while galleries with sales exceeding $10 million fell 9%.
“People have avoided risk more,” said Claire McAndrew, an economist who wrote the report, in an interview. “On the supply side, people were waiting to see how things were panning out and held. That had an impact on what was coming to the market.”
“Buyers were looking at this uncertain and unstable picture and wanted to put their money into something more fluid or what gave them income,” McAndrew said.
The report is a survey of the most widely cited activities in the infamous, opaque international art market, estimated the total value of global art sales in 2024 at $57.5 billion.
Sales peaked at $68.2 billion in 2014, but have been flat or declined since, despite more than double the billionaire wealth over the past decade. Meanwhile, sales of other luxury items have skyrocketed. LVMH, the world's largest luxury conglomerate, recorded annual sales of around $88 billion last year.
“At this point, there is a huge wealth in different parts of the world,” McAndrew said.
“The focus is very focused on the core players that are already buying,” she added. “Growth must come with expanding areas of interest.”
Sales fell in all major geographical regions of the art trade last year, the report said. The US held its position as a dominant market, but sales fell 9% to $24.8 billion. This is according to the report, according to the “political uncertainty surrounding the presidential election.” Despite “Brexit-related challenges,” the UK ranked second in sales of $10.4 billion, with just 5% contracts compared to the previous year. Art sales fell 31% to $8.4 billion in China, the lowest level since 2009, resulting in “slow economic growth, continuous sluggish real estate market and other economic challenges.”
One bright spot in the report was an increase in activity at the low price level.
The total number of Global Art Trades rose 3% in 2024 to 40.5 million. The report reports that auction sales are selling for less than $5,000, an increase of 7%, with dealers with sales below $250,000, up 17%, with dealers with sales below $250,000, reporting a high second straight year of growth. According to Art Basel and UBS, the smallest dealers attract the largest share of new buyers, “emphasizing the importance of small galleries in expanding the market to a larger audience.”
Looking forward to it, the report said 80% of dealers expect stable or improved sales. But these bright answers were compiled before President Trump announced last Wednesday the sharp tariffs that saw almost all imports into the US and subsequent stock markets fall. At this point, art appears to be largely exempt from US tariffs, but dealers are worried about these measures and how the economic disruption they are causing will undermine international art trade.
“That's a bad thing,” McAndrew said. He emphasized that the impact of the tariffs remains unknown. “The growth of the modern market has been built around products that can easily travel across borders. This is the worst time for the art market to become a hit.”
“There's still a possibility of mutual things, and more generally, the possibilities they can give are no longer,” she added.
“Geopolitical tensions, economic volatility, trade fragmentation” that the UBS and ART Basel report, identified as inhibitors in 2024, does not seem to be readily facilitated.
