As waiting times increase, superyacht sales decline, Russian oligarchs exit the market.

Due to long waiting lists, rising costs and oligarch restrictions, superyacht sales will accelerate in 2023, according to a new report.

Sales of new superyachts (yachts longer than 100 feet) fell 17 percent last year, according to Superyacht Times’ new State of Yachting report. 203 new superyacht sales in 2023, down from 245 in 2022 and a record 313 in 2021.

A buyer ordering a new yacht over 200 feet today could face a three- to four-year wait due to pandemic-induced backlogs, said Ralph Dessert, head of intelligence at Superyacht Times. have to face Prices are also increasing due to higher labor and material costs.

Desert said he expects new superyacht sales to “go down a little bit more this year” given continued costs and delays.

The largest superyachts were the hardest hit, with sales of yachts over 200 meters, or about 650 feet, down 40 percent. According to the report, the main reason for the big superyacht drop is that Russia’s wealthy buyers are exiting the market after the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“The Russians were prone to ordering very extravagant and very large boats,” he said.

Americans are picking up some of the slack, accounting for about a quarter of all superyacht sales last year. And while Americans tend to build smaller boats than Middle Eastern and Russian buyers, American boats are getting bigger.

According to the report, the average length of a Saudi-owned superyacht is 202 feet, compared to 200 feet for Russian buyers and 177 feet for Americans.

Even as new sales declined, the yacht was completed. This figure represents yachts ordered during the pandemic frenzy that are just being launched. The number of completions increased by 31% to 202 superyachts in 2023.

A growing fleet of superyachts translates into increased demand for the entire ecosystem of the yacht economy—from builders and brokers to marina slips and crew. According to SuperYacht Times, there are now nearly 6,000 superyachts, triple the number in 2002.

Desert said a flood of wealthy buyers who first entered the market during Covid are continuing to use their yachts. Many are upgrading, which means the high water mark for economy yachting will likely continue to rise.

He said that the pool of users has steadily increased.