U.S. YachtWorld brokers rang up $3.1B in 2008
By Larry Rains
YachtWorld.com
Any way you look at 2008, it was a benchmark year, and all 2009 activities are
going to be judged against it.
With this in mind, here are some key 2008 YachtWorld.com numbers that will
provide guidance as to how 2009 compares:
• As of Dec. 31 there were 1,498 U.S. brokerages and 1,037 international brokerages active on the site.
• During the course of the year, 55,200 new brokerage yachts were listed in the
U.S., worth $18.9 billion.
• A total of 18,510 brokerage yachts
were sold by U.S. brokers, worth $3.1
billion.
• May was the best month for sales, with 12 percent of the total volume, followed
by July and April, each with 11 percent.
• The average daily number of U.S. page views was 918,000 and, on average, daily
unique U.S. visitors totaled 35,000.
• The most popular day of the week for site visits was Monday, followed by Tuesday and Wednesday.
This brokerage sales data is unaudited and is voluntarily supplied by YachtWorld.com
member brokers. These charts do not represent all boats sold by all brokers: 95% of
Yacht World.com’s 1,689 members contribute sales information. Yacht World.com and
Soundings Trade Only are owned by Dominion Enterprises.
Unemployment rate high, but not unprecedented
One of the principal reasons consumer confidence is at an all-time low
is fear of job loss, economists say.
U.S. Department of Labor figures
show unemployment surged to 7. 2 percent in December — a month in which
524,000 jobs were lost. Since the start of
the recession in December 2007, the
number of unemployed people has
grown by 3. 6 million to a total of 11.1
million. Employment in the last four
months of 2008 alone fell by 1.9 million.
Job-loss increases seem likely to continue, warns the Conference Board,
which says its Employment Trends
Index fell 16 percent in the past year.
“During 2008, total non-farm employ-
ment declined by more than 2. 5 million, and the sharp declines in the Employment Trends Index suggest that in
2009 this number could grow by another 2 million,” says Conference Board
senior economist Gad Levanon.
The December unemployment rate of
7. 2 percent is the highest in 16 years.
In 1992, the rate averaged 7. 5 percent.
The accompanying chart shows the
average unemployment rate for the
years between 1970 and 2008.
The rate was high through most of
the 1980s, peaking at 9. 7 percent in
1982 and 9. 6 percent in 1983. The previous high came in 1975, when the rate
jumped to 8. 5 percent.
Annual average unemployment rate,
civilian labor force 16 and over
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
AVG. PRICE SEARCHED ON
BY CLASS (HIGH - LOW)
Power
$45,733 $11,639
Sail
$71,864 $15,564
Small boats $17,844 $4,826
PWC
$8,153 $3,254
TOP SEACHES BY DISTANCE
Within 25 miles
42,086
Within 100 miles
743,096
Within 250 miles
378,094
Within 500 miles
482,037
Within 1000 miles
132,133
OVERALL BOAT
SEARCHES BY STATE
Florida 70,252
California 17,482
Texas 13,879
Georgia 10,307
Michigan 9,934
Washington 9,916
North Carolina 8,916
Arizona 8,621
South Carolina 8,150
Alabama 8,144
Ohio 7,993
New York 7,764
Virginia 7,555
Oregon 7,440
Maryland 7,410
TOP MANUFACTURER
WHEN CLASS = POWER
Sea Ray
Ranger
Bayliner
47,872
24,227
17,851
Wellcraft
12,229
Boston Whaler
11,823
Baja
Triton
11,366
11,215
Grady-White
Mako
10,208
8,782
TOP MANUFACTURER
WHEN CLASS = SAIL
Catalina
Hunter
Beneteau
7,444
6,462
2,769
MacGregor
Morgan
Pearson
2,433
2,043
1,567
Island Packet
1,228
Cape Dory
C&C
1,110
937
TOP MANUFACTURER
WHEN CLASS = SM. BOATS
Boston Whaler
394
Zodiac
Lund
304
182
Gheenhoe
164
Tracker
Avon
151
138
Carolina Skiffs
123
Lowe
104
Sea Doo
101
All data supplied by Boat Trader.com, based on user searches for pre-owned/new boats on the Web site Boat Trader.com. The number of boats listed on the Boat Trader.com site changes daily. The data
listed above was gathered from the site in December 2008, and is based on activity of the previous 31 days. Boat Trader.com and Soundings Trade Only are owned by Dominion Enterprises.
