Now could be the perfect time to enter the brokerage market, with sellers keen to secure deals, according to YPI director Abdullah Nahar.
Speaking in the latest episode of our lockdown series At Home with BOAT, Nahar said: “A lot of owners believe that this is certainly a buyer’s market and so they are keen to sell - and they’re serious sellers.
"The indication of this is the price point is on average anywhere between from 15% to 20% below the usual market price.”
In particular, YPI has witnessed a wave of first-time buyers looking to escape on board a yacht. Although, Nahar said, with new owners it's a "slower process".
“This way they can create that real love and passion for yachting rather than just jumping on a great deal and not worrying about the running costs," he said.
“We want to ensure that they are making the right choice because being an owner comes with massive financial commitments on an annual basis."
As for charter, global travel restrictions and port closures are set to make this year's summer season a challenging one. But to counter this, YPI has waived its commissions and is offering no penalty cancellation clauses for charterers to get things moving again.
Despite the challenges, Nahar remains optimistic and expects the charter season to return to normality towards the end of summer. “The restrictions are lifting slowly and there's a lot of inquiries coming in,” he said.
“We might need to write off the beginning of the charter season and recover some of it towards the end.”
In the episode, Nahar also touched on the withdrawal of LYBRA and SYBAss from this year’s Monaco Yacht Show. “We respect everybody's decision," he said. "I hope we will all put our differences aside as an industry and collectively work on attracting to this industry the new generation and new clientele.”
For more At Home With BOAT episodes click here.