Sotheby’s crunched its 2024 numbers on Thursday during a Teams call. On the face of it, the house’s CEO Charles Stewart announcing $6 billion of consolidated sales against what he called “a clearly challenging market backdrop” is not to be sniffed at. The figure was the highest in the industry for last year (in December, Christie’s reported $5.7 billion in sales for 2024).
The $6 billion total, despite marking a 23 percent decline in sales against 2023, was hard-fought amid the storm whipped up by several rounds of layoffs in New York and London, Sotheby’s embarrassing U-turn on buyers’ fees, and the uncertainty wrought by wars, elections, and high interest rates. Stewart’s line was that the house has navigated the resultant choppy seas and was taking this year head on. “2025 is set to be a very exciting year for us,” he said.
He added that the company has roughly $800 million of sales earmarked for the first few months of 2025, which would make it the most successful quarter in the house’s 281-year history. No pressure, then.
Thursday’s presser was about 2024, though, and Sotheby’s auction sales dropped by 28 percent last year to $4.6 billion. Fine art sales took the biggest hit, taking home just $3.8 billion, almost a third less than 2023. Stewart bemoaned the “discretionary sellers [who] stayed on the sidelines” and the “relative lack of large estates” that stemmed supply at the “high end of the secondary fine art and luxury markets.”
“I certainly can’t recall a year when there were such strong counter indicators in the market,” he said. “Whether it was high interest rates that were expected to come down, strong equity markets that seemed to defy gravity, election uncertainty in many countries—especially in the US and Europe—cyclical softness in China and other parts of Asia, and of course ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East. All of those factors contributed to a sense of overall uncertainty.”
During the online call, Lisa Dennison—chairman of Sotheby’s North and South America—chipped in, saying “A+ material [still] generates A+ results. “While the volume of lots dropped across all houses, demand for masterpieces remains strong,” she said. “Indeed, when we offer the rarest and best in class object with exceptional provenance, we see record prices and competitive bidding.” She used the David Hockney (L’Arbois, Sainte-Maxime, 1968) that Sotheby’s sold in London in October for more than $17 million, as an example.
Sotheby’s will be relieved that its luxury sales only shrank by 4 percent to $2.3 billion as the house prepares to host the first international auction in Saudi Arabia next month. The Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, has a fast-growing luxury goods market and Stewart is determined to turn the house into a globally recognized luxury brand beyond the art world.
The sale in the historic town of Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh will coincide with Sotheby’s opening an office in the Al Faisaliah Tower in the Saudi capital. “Looking ahead, the horizon is bright,” the CEO said. “We’re venturing into new markets, unveiling spectacular venues around the globe, and welcoming a new generation of collectors to discover another world of art and luxury at Sotheby’s.”
Like last year’s art, records for the auction house in 2024 were also in short supply. Sotheby’s did, however, record an 85 percent sell-through rate across all categories—a house record. Luxury sales saw an 86 percent sell-through rate.
Compared to 2023, more people bid on lots worth more than $15 million last year. For lots that sold for over $10 million, Sotheby’s said double the proportion sold above their high estimate against 2023, with more bidders per lot as well.
The major positive in 2024 for the house was the growth of its private sales department, which grew by almost 20 percent to $1.4 billion, the second-highest total in Sotheby’s history.
“It’s a reminder, that in times of market uncertainty, clients often favor the discretion, price control, and flexible timing that private transactions offer,” Dennison said. “Blue-chip artists drove much of this sales momentum, with 20 percent of the total private sales value coming from works priced over $20 million.”
She said curated private selling exhibitions are an increasingly important element of this business and pointed to October’s show “London to Paris,” staged in both cities. It was Sotheby’s most valuable selling exhibition ever.
The most popular artists sold privately were Alberto Giacometti, Claude Monet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol. These five were also among the top artists sold at auction.
Sotheby’s will be hoping that much of the drama that gripped the house last year is firmly in the rear-view mirror. Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said. “We’re seeing a renewed sense of collector confidence, fueled in part, of course, by the falling interest-rate environment we’re in and greater clarity following the recent presidential elections in the United States.”
