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In this October Market Insights episode, Sue is joined by Andrew Fairbrass from Berthon Spain to discuss the global yacht market as the team returns from the Annapolis Boat Show. Across all Berthon offices, activity remains steady, but the way buyers are engaging, researching, and making decisions continues to evolve. The conversation explores changing buyer behaviour, the challenges facing yacht manufacturers, and what’s driving momentum across new yacht sales, brokerage, and refit sectors as 2025 heads toward its final quarter.

This month’s insights:

1. The day of the boat show is waning. With more localised events, digital walkthroughs, and access to detailed online specifications, most buyers are viewing, assessing, and deciding outside traditional exhibition settings. The autumn shows have seen busy docks and halls, but fewer committed buyers as organisers prioritise visitor numbers over qualified clients.

2. Multihulls are hot. Interest continues to rise, led by production models linked to charter opportunities. Alongside these, there is strong demand for semi-custom, well-engineered, high-quality designs offering performance, comfort, and long-range capability. These are yachts that combine speed, seakeeping, and liveability, true bluewater cruisers appealing to experienced sailors and newcomers alike.

3. New yacht sales remain challenging. Long-standing American builder Catalina announced the suspension of production – a significant indicator of wider pressures in the sector. Rising costs, cautious buyers, and stock overhangs have slowed the pace of new orders. More announcements of this kind are expected into 2026.

4. Production yacht and motor yacht builders are struggling to reduce stock levels. As 2025 draws to a close, unsold stock remains high, a concern as unsold boats cross into a new model year. Many manufacturers are expected to delay or scale back production rather than discount heavily, in order to preserve pricing integrity.

5. Refit and service demand remains strong at the top end. Berthon’s service and refit operation in Palma has a full order book stretching into 2026, largely from yachts 100 feet and above. However, activity in the 60–100 foot range has slowed, impacted by high berthing costs and market hesitation. Palma’s berth prices have begun to soften again after sharp increases last year, and brokers are now negotiating attractive winter deals to keep yachts local.

6. Buyer confidence remains fragile. Levels of buyer remorse are high, with some clients stepping back at the final moment. Global uncertainty and economic caution are feeding a wait-and-see approach, particularly among first-time buyers and those upgrading into larger yachts. Brokers across all offices report that their role now involves more reassurance, education, and managing expectations throughout the process.

7. Market sentiment expects prices to fall, but stability continues. Some buyers remain convinced that brokerage prices will drop sharply over the winter, but this appears unlikely. The price delta between new and brokerage yachts remains wide, and builders are far more likely to slow or pause production than to sell below cost. For now brokerage values are holding steady, with well-presented, sensibly priced yachts still finding serious buyers.

Across the group, the message is consistent: while confidence wavers and decision-making takes longer, the market remains active, disciplined, and value-driven. Multihulls are a clear growth story, refit work continues strongly at the large-yacht end, and owners who price realistically are seeing results. The final months of 2025 look set to close on a stable footing, as the yacht industry continues to balance global caution with a steady appetite for quality and adventure afloat.

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Sue Grant sits down with designer, yachtsman, and long-time friend Steve Dashew to chart the leap from the record-setting sailboat BEOWULF to FPB 83 WIND HORSE—the boat that founded the FPB explorer-yacht line. Steve recalls why he and Linda built a fast, easily run sailboat, the two-handed 300-mile days they logged, and the stormy passage that flipped a prejudice against powerboats on its head: a broken boom, a hard motor-sail home, and a revelation about comfort, control, and speed. That moment led to Wind Horse—long, lean, efficient, and conceived from a sailor’s priorities: steering control, gentle motion, accessible systems, and high average speed. Sue and Steve dig into tank-test lessons, why 10–14-knot passages transform routing and safety, and how two people can realistically manage a serious ocean machine. They close with how those ideas became a family of 18 FPB hulls—powerboats designed by sailors to go farther, faster, and in control.

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In this September Market Insights episode, Sue Grant is joined by Magnus Kullberg, Managing Director of Berthon Scandinavia, to reflect on the yacht market as the season changes. With Cannes and Newport Boat Shows behind us and Annapolis ahead, both events were quieter than expected for immediate deals, though valuable for gauging trends and client interest.

This month’s key insights:

1. Cannes and Newport were information-gathering, not deal-making.
2. Brokerage enquiries are well up on 2024 levels.
3. Marketing teams are flat out as new listings swell stock.
4. Sweden is seeing a rebound after a slow August.
5. Buyers are focusing on value, ignoring overpriced yachts.
6. Owners should heed broker advice when offers arrive.
7. Custom yachts are out of favour in today’s price-sensitive market.

The message across the group is clear: the market is active yet disciplined, with serious buyers stepping forward, price sensitivity dictating movement, and residual value under close watch.

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In this episode, Ben Cooper, Rob, and Alan from Berthon sit down, for their first attempt at recording a podcast, and share an insider’s look at the yacht market, fresh from a busy September of shows and racing. Rob reports back from the Cannes Yachting Festival, where Solaris unveiled the new 60 Coupé alongside the latest 55, 50, and 74, while Ben and Alan reflect on the performance cruising sector and the innovation driving today’s sleeker, faster designs. From the flush decks of Solaris to the growing demand for wide transoms and twin rudders, they discuss how expectations for speed and style are shaping modern blue water and coastal sailing. Ben also recounts racing at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2025 in Porto Cervo, where 43 yachts battled in sunshine and Mistral breezes across stunning coastal courses. Alongside the excitement on the water, the team reviews brokerage trends across cruising and motor yachts, highlighting a price-sensitive market with strong opportunities as owners and buyers look ahead to next season.

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In this episode, Sue Grant (Managing Director of Berthon Sales Group) shares our latest yacht sales insights for August 2025. What began as a light-hearted Teams chat between our international offices has grown into a more structured monthly review of the yacht market — and now into a regular podcast feature.

Sue dives into what’s happening across our territories — the UK, Mediterranean, Scandinavia, the USA, and beyond. From seasonal slowdowns in August to the build-up for the autumn boat shows, we explore what’s hot, what’s not, and the wider trends shaping brokerage today.

Highlights include:

• Why August is traditionally a quiet month for yacht sales, and what made this year different.
• The surge in repeat business from long-standing Berthon clients.
• Busy activity in Scandinavia around the Öppet Varv show.
• Growing interest from American buyers in Mediterranean yachts.
• Legal challenges around YachtWorld and what that could mean for the industry.
• Which yacht sizes and styles are most in demand right now.
• Encouraging early signs of renewed appetite for new yacht sales.

It’s a mix of clear insight and open conversation, blending market analysis with first-hand perspective, aimed at making sense of where the yacht market stands today, where it’s heading, and how these shifts affect both buyers and sellers.

If you’re curious about the state of international yacht sales, this episode gives you an inside look at the conversations shaping the market right now.

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Welcome to the very first episode of the Berthon Podcast. In this short pilot, Sue Grant, Managing Director of the Berthon Sales Group, introduces who we are, what we do, and why we’ve launched this series.

Berthon is a fourth-generation, family-owned business with shipyard roots stretching back centuries, and today we’re one of the most established international yacht brokerages in the market. We sell around 200 yachts a year, across sail and power, from 35ft bluewater cruisers to 120ft performance yachts, working out of offices in the UK, Sweden, Spain, and the USA.

In this introduction, Sue shares:

• The history and heritage behind Berthon.
• What makes our brokerage different, from specialist brokers to in-house photography and video.
• Our passion for yachts, people, and the incredible stories that come with them.
• A look at the publications and events we produce, from the Berthon Book to our annual Market Report.
• What you can expect from this podcast — future episodes will cover yacht sales insights, bluewater cruising, interviews with owners and designers, and much more.

Whether you’re buying, selling, dreaming of bluewater horizons, or simply curious about the world of yachting, this podcast is here to share insights, stories, and a bit of behind-the-scenes life at Berthon. We’re glad you’re here at the start — subscribe, follow along, and join us for the journey.

www.berthoninternational.com

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