A quick status check of the global art market

According to the recent study report courtesy Deloitte and ArtTactic, the traditional art industry’s strength can’t be appreciated sans the recent hub of activity witnessed in virtual space: the art world globally is going online. Hundreds of art ventures launched on the Internet in recent years cover segments like data, information, market research, auctions and galleries, social communities, B2B and consumer-to-consumer driven art transaction avenues online that infuse liquidity into the market, broadening its scope and depth, in turn, improving transparency.

Here are other important observations regarding the global art market:

•    In spite of the drop in art market activities in China, the market there acted as the primary impetus for the global art investment fund market growth in the period under study, logging an increase of almost 70 percent reaching a conservative estimate of $1.62 billion at the end of 2012.

•    An estimated 83 art funds and art investment trusts were operating Last year, a, among which 58 set up in China alone since 2009. Meanwhile, the key findings of the latest TEFAF Art Market Report suggested that sales in China, the engine of global growth, dropped by 30 percent in 2012.

•    However this was counterbalanced by a rise of 5 percent in US sales. The country regained its leading position with 33 percent (up 4 percent) whereas China dropped to 25 percent (down 5 percent). The UK remained third with 23 percent.

•    The report underlined the fact that political and economic uncertainties led to in many asset markets, with art no exception, though well-known artists recorded strong performances. Overall, sales in the private retail/dealer sector dropped by just 4 percent and so also the transactions’ volume in the global art market.

To conclude, for new-age wealth management community, competition is not any longer the prime or sole motivation to include art in conventional wealth structuring: rather demand from clients, keen to add tangible and reliable assets to their portfolios, is the key driver.