According to a 2022 report from the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market, the art market has recovered from the pandemic with an estimated 29% growth in 2021 to $65.1 billion. The growth is spread over every segment in the art market, ranging from blue-chip contemporary art to decorative arts.
The revival of the global art market
The U.S leads the global sales market with around $28 billion of art sold in a single year. In the second place was Greater China with sales of $13.4 billion, followed by 11.3 billion salsas by the U.K.
In 2019, global art sales were $64.1 billion before declining to $50.1 billion in 2020. These data are from public auctions and those self-reported sales by private art dealers and collectors. The authors of the art report compile these findings, making it difficult to verify the correct data. Last year two surveys complied the dealer data where the response was 701 for one and 774 for the other.
Dealers have confirmed after a caveat that they and 774 sold $34.7 billion worth of antiques and arts in 2021, up by 18% from the previous year. Around 55% of the dealer surveyed said they mode more pits in 2021 than 2020, while 24% reported a decline in profits.
The Arts Economics and UBS investor watch survey saw the private individuals more forthcoming. Around 2239 High Net worth individuals responded enthusiastically to the survey. The median expenditure for 2019 on decorative art, fine art, and antiques was $72,000. In 2020, it rose to $274,000, almost 281%. More than a third of these high-net-worth collectors spent more the $1 million.
With many auctions housed already providing their 2021 total earnings, the success was surprising but encouraging. Global sales in art auctions rose by 47% in 2021, totaling $26.3 billion. Contemporary and post-war arts have continued to dominate art auctions with around $6.7 billion worth of art sales and accounting for 55% of global fine arts.
The majority of the participants in the survey are optimistic about 2022. 62 % of the dealers predicted sales improvement, whereas 53% of the collectors said they would continue spending.
If one is talking about 2021, there has to be a mention of NFTs. The collectibles based on blockchain entered the big league with art-related NFTs sales of $2.6 billion in 2021. 74% of the high-net-worth art collectors surveyed said they purchased an art-based NFT with a median expenditure of $9000. Going beyond art, the median spending on NFT was much higher, $24,000.
