The second-hand boat market in 2025 and 2026  in France 

To use a buzzword, we could say that the second-hand boat market is a ‘resilient’ market : for the past 20 years, the number of transactions per year in France has remained stable at around 60000 units, with 20 % for sailing boats and 80% for motor boats. In 2025, 11727 sailing boats and 48295 motor boats changed hands in France (source : Fédération des Industries Nautiques).

The deteriorating economic environment, international tensions and budgetary uncertainties have not had a negative impact on the second-hand boat market, at least not on the number of transactions. However, in terms of value, and without a reliable source (transaction prices are not known, as the administration, in this case the DDTM, does not disclose figures concerning sale prices), it is safe to say that average sale prices are stable and that the period of falling prices that began after the Covid period is now over. We are also seeing longer sales times, which can be explained by the increase in the number of boats for sale.

What is true for used boats is not true for new boats : 8,584 new registrations in 2025 compared to 12,797 in 2023 and 20,657 in 2008... The nautical industry is facing a significant structural decline in new boat sales. In terms of value, and again in the absence of official figures, this decline can be put into perspective because the average size of boats, and therefore average prices, are steadily increasing. The yacht industry is manufacturing fewer boats, but it is manufacturing larger and more expensive boats.

For ANTIPODE, 2025 was a year of two halves : a very sluggish first half of the financial year, with slow activity, followed by an exceptional second half, with very sustained activity from October to December. In the end, we completed 55 transactions. This makes 2025 our best year ever (excluding the Covid year 2021/2022, when we outperformed thanks to exceptional market conditions).

We believe that the choices we made two years ago (generalisation of exclusive mandates, stricter selection criteria for the boats we offer, investment in our customer service, increase in our marketing budget, collaborations with foreign brokerage companies, offers of mooring solutions in Brittany) have borne fruit, and we are therefore confident in our choices. We have also increased our share of export sales (31%), with an average export price of €217,000.
The resilience and robustness of the used boat market allow us to be very optimistic about 2026 and the years to come. We will continue to improve our expertise to support all our future customers in their boating projects.