High-net-worth individuals (HNWIs)—those collectors who spend a minimum of $10,000 on art annually—are more likely to buy work from new art dealers than ever before, according to the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2024. Specifically, the report found that 88% of collectors have branched out to at least one new gallery over the past year, buying from an average of 17 galleries in 2024, up from 13 in 2019.
Conducted by Dr. Clare McAndrew, founder of Art Economics, in collaboration with UBS, the 2024 survey gathered responses from over 3,660 high-net-worth collectors across 14 markets, including the U.S., the U.K., Mainland China, and Brazil. The study looked into the purchasing habits and motivations of art collectors during 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Over this time period, the art market has seen a challenging landscape, with high interest rates and global tensions on the rise.
The report found that average expenditure by high-net-worth collectors fell by 32% in 2023. However, median spending only slightly decreased from $50,165 in 2022 to $50,000 in 2023. Meanwhile, median expenditures in the first half of 2024 ($24,555) were also stable for this year. This suggests that any shifts in spending may be happening at the highest and lowest ends of the market.
Despite a decline in average spending, collectors are actively exploring new opportunities in the art market, often purchasing from a more comprehensive array of dealers and at more accessible price points. “The HNWIs we surveyed were transacting through a more diverse range of channels and price points in 2023 and 2024, engaging with more galleries than in previous years, including more new galleries,” McAndrew said in a statement. “These changes are likely to contribute to the ongoing shift in focus away from the narrow high-end of sales that has dominated in previous years, potentially expanding the market’s base and encouraging growth in more affordable art segments, which could provide greater stability in future.”
The report also showed that optimism in the art market is on the rise. 91% of high-net-worth collectors feel optimistic about the art market’s performance over the next six months, up from 77% at the end of 2023.
An ongoing theme in the current art market is the impact of intergenerational wealth transfer. A portion of the wealthiest collectors is expected to transfer over $6 trillion in wealth and assets to heirs and charities within the next 20 to 30 years. According to the report, 91% of collectors have acquired an artwork through inheritance or a gift through a will, with 72% keeping at least one of these pieces. So, even though tastes might be shifting, these works are remaining with collectors for now.
