Global Auction Sales Dropped 6% in the First Half of 2025: Report

The auction market didn't get off to the best start this year.

Global auction sales fell 6 percent in the first half of 2025, totaling $3.98 billion at Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips. according to a report from London-based market research firm ArtTactic .

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This year marks the third in a row of declining auction sales, down 44 percent, or over $3 billion, from 2022—and the lowest total in at least a decade, excluding 2020, CNBC reported. Sales of postwar and contemporary art, typically a powerhouse on the block, dropped 19 percent.

"Lingering concerns over global economic growth, ongoing inflation, and rising geopolitical tensions are weighing on confidence and creating a more cautious investment climate," ArtTactic told CNBC. "These factors are likely to challenge the market's momentum in the second half of the year, as the industry adapts to a still-uncertain global landscape."

Yet amid slumps in auction sales, the ultra-wealthy are thriving. The top 10 percent of Americans have boosted their net worth by $37 trillion since the Covid pandemic, amounting to a 45 percent increase, according to CNBC. Contributions to personal wealth including stocks, housing, and private business values have also continued to surge.

Yale professor William Goetzmann, who has studied art and wealth across centuries, found the two are "highly correlated." But this downturn seems to break that pattern. "The question is, is there some kind of fundamental deviation from the social norm of the very wealthy being highly involved in collecting art at the highest prices and levels," he told CNBC. "We don't know yet."

This so-called deviation could be attributed to a generational shift in wealth. As baby boomers get older, their heirs may not want the art, and large collections are hitting the market for hefty fees. Simultaneously, millennials and Gen Z may prefer digital artwork or different aesthetics altogether from the 20th-century taste of their parents or grandparents. The downward trend of auction sales suggests a more existential change in the art market.

Major houses are eagerly adapting to shifts in the auction world, including more online sales, luxury items, and lower-priced offerings. Online bidding now dominates the industry, with 80 percent of Christie's bids placed digitally, according to CNBC. Nearly a third of their buyers are millennials or Gen Z.