Speculation in New York

At the end of the prestigious May sales, the average price of works negotiated in New York auction rooms was up by 56% compared to that registered at the peak of the speculative bubble in 1990. Over recent months, the rate of inflation observed on the American art market since 1999 has considerably accelerated and since April 2005 average sales prices in New York have risen by 49.6%!

In this context, we are seeing a lot of works that were bought only several years previously being put back on the market at prices much higher than their previous prices. Thus, at the moment, works of art are proving to be a particularly auspicious investment for those who built up their portfolios in the 1990s. Over the last 10 years, the overall average value of the Fine Art works has risen 144%.

In order to assess the New York price index by examining repeated sales, Artprice has identified works of art which have been involved in at least two transactions in New York. By measuring the variation in prices we can construct an accurate price index, undistorted by the different price evolutions around the world.
Here are a few of the lucrative ‘repeated sales’ identified: