wrote:
Too early to tell, but........

First quarter new and used boat sales in WA state were down slightly
from last year. This is the first time in 3 years that first quarter
sales have been off vs. the previous year. Jan and Feb numbers were
actually up over 2005, but a very soft March drew the quarter down
overall.

Notable statistics:

New boats sold by WA state dealers were 1,253 units in Q1 2006, vs.
1.361 in Q1 2005. Unit volume was off 7.9%, but due to price increases
dollar volume was off less than 1%.

Washington State residents bought 32 fewer boats from out of state
dealers in Q1 2006 vs. Q1 2005. (339 vs. 371) However, a substantial
increase in average transaction price of such vessels resulted in a
58.8% ($4,427,448) increase in this category.

Used boats sold by WA State dealers were down 23 units from the 850
sold in Q1 2005, but dollar volume was up 9.9% in that category. Fewer,
but more costly used boats are being sold.

Among New boats:

Sellers listed the following "Propulsion type" on applications for
registration:

Ourdrive: 415 units
Inboard: 184 units
Jet: 184 units
Outboard: 848 units
Sail: 18 units (some sellers list sailboats as inboard, outboard,
etc)
Unknown: 25 units

LOA's with notable percentage changes:

10' down 11.5% Q1
11-14' down 16% Q1
23-26' up 58.7% Q1 (165 units vs 104)
27-30' down 9.5% Q1
31-34' up 22.7% Q1 (27 units vs 22)
35-38' up 91.7% Q1 (23 units vs 12)
39-42' up 20% Q1 (12 units vs 10)
43-46' up 250% Q1 (7 units vs 2)
51-54' down 33.3% (2 units vs. 3)
55-58' down 100% (no units sold, vs. 2)
70' up 100% (2 units vs. 1)

Looks like sales in the medium size cruiser category, 31-46 feet, were
actually up pretty well- but of course there isn't any meaningful
volume in those categories to influence the overall statistics.

Looks like the 50-60 foot category has fallen off slightly, but again
the base is so small that 2-3 units one way of the other make a huge
percentage difference. (A lot of these are now 7-figure boats and sales
volume may tend to track the price of second mortgage money).


Among used boats:

1363 "outdrive"
883 "inboard"
402 "jet
3,089 "outboard"
235 "sail"
86 "unknown"


Categories of LOA with notable % changes

11-14' down 8.1%
15-18' down 7.2%
23-26' down 4.1%
31-34' down 9.7%
35-38' down 9.9% (91 units vs 101)
39-42' down 6.8% (68 units vs 73)
43-46' down 12.5% (28 units vs 32)
47-50' UP 41.2% (24 units vs. 17)
59-62' down 50% (1 unit vs 2)
63-66' down 50% (2 units vs 4)
67-70' down 50% (1 unit vs 2)
70 UP an infinite percent (3 units vs 0)

Oddly enough Chuck, I've watched Ebay for the last 4 years on used
craft of various sizes, makes, and conditions, and have noticed that
prices seem to be up in the used boat market[s].

most strange.....

wrote:
wrote:
Too early to tell, but........

First quarter new and used boat sales in WA state were down slightly
from last year. This is the first time in 3 years that first quarter
sales have been off vs. the previous year. Jan and Feb numbers were
actually up over 2005, but a very soft March drew the quarter down
overall.

Notable statistics:

New boats sold by WA state dealers were 1,253 units in Q1 2006, vs.
1.361 in Q1 2005. Unit volume was off 7.9%, but due to price increases
dollar volume was off less than 1%.

Washington State residents bought 32 fewer boats from out of state
dealers in Q1 2006 vs. Q1 2005. (339 vs. 371) However, a substantial
increase in average transaction price of such vessels resulted in a
58.8% ($4,427,448) increase in this category.

Used boats sold by WA State dealers were down 23 units from the 850
sold in Q1 2005, but dollar volume was up 9.9% in that category. Fewer,
but more costly used boats are being sold.

Among New boats:

Sellers listed the following "Propulsion type" on applications for
registration:

Ourdrive: 415 units
Inboard: 184 units
Jet: 184 units
Outboard: 848 units
Sail: 18 units (some sellers list sailboats as inboard, outboard,
etc)
Unknown: 25 units

LOA's with notable percentage changes:

10' down 11.5% Q1
11-14' down 16% Q1
23-26' up 58.7% Q1 (165 units vs 104)
27-30' down 9.5% Q1
31-34' up 22.7% Q1 (27 units vs 22)
35-38' up 91.7% Q1 (23 units vs 12)
39-42' up 20% Q1 (12 units vs 10)
43-46' up 250% Q1 (7 units vs 2)
51-54' down 33.3% (2 units vs. 3)
55-58' down 100% (no units sold, vs. 2)
70' up 100% (2 units vs. 1)

Looks like sales in the medium size cruiser category, 31-46 feet, were
actually up pretty well- but of course there isn't any meaningful
volume in those categories to influence the overall statistics.

Looks like the 50-60 foot category has fallen off slightly, but again
the base is so small that 2-3 units one way of the other make a huge
percentage difference. (A lot of these are now 7-figure boats and sales
volume may tend to track the price of second mortgage money).


Among used boats:

1363 "outdrive"
883 "inboard"
402 "jet
3,089 "outboard"
235 "sail"
86 "unknown"


Categories of LOA with notable % changes

11-14' down 8.1%
15-18' down 7.2%
23-26' down 4.1%
31-34' down 9.7%
35-38' down 9.9% (91 units vs 101)
39-42' down 6.8% (68 units vs 73)
43-46' down 12.5% (28 units vs 32)
47-50' UP 41.2% (24 units vs. 17)
59-62' down 50% (1 unit vs 2)
63-66' down 50% (2 units vs 4)
67-70' down 50% (1 unit vs 2)
70 UP an infinite percent (3 units vs 0)

Oddly enough Chuck, I've watched Ebay for the last 4 years on used
craft of various sizes, makes, and conditions, and have noticed that
prices seem to be up in the used boat market[s].

most strange.....


Individual unit prices are up (for new boats) in the state numbers,
it's the unit volume that is down. For instance, new boats sold by
dealers were down 7.9% in unit volume, but only 0.6% in dollar volume.
Used boat prices are tracking the same way. Used boats sold by dealers
were off 2.7% in unit volume but up 9.9% in dollar volume. Used boats
sold by private parties were off 6% in units, but up 6.7% in dollar
volume.

I guess ebay, watched carefully, can be a better than average indicator
since you can eventually see what a boat or anything else actually sold
for. Watching "for sale" ads isn't a good inidicator of selling prices
in general because that only indicates what people are "asking" for a
boat, and there's no limit to what you can ask.

The statistics I'm sharing here are for one of the 50 states and for a
3-month period. No way to project anything absolutely definite on a
national basis from these, of course.

I guess ebay, watched carefully, can be a better than average indicator
since you can eventually see what a boat or anything else actually sold
for. Watching "for sale" ads isn't a good inidicator of selling prices
in general because that only indicates what people are "asking" for a
boat, and there's no limit to what you can ask.

The statistics I'm sharing here are for one of the 50 states and for a
3-month period. No way to project anything absolutely definite on a
national basis from these, of course.

One thing. Two years ago, I bought my little Chris Craft Scorpion 169
on Ebay with a BIN of $1500.00

The seller took very high quality pictures. and his discription was
dead on. The boat is very nice and the interior is high quality.

There are two other 169's on Ebay right now, and one is an absolute
identical boat as mine, you would swear they were the same boat, that
is with exception of a couple minor differences. One has 4 days to go
and it at $2200.00 now, and the identical one as mine just closed at
$2380.

I feel I got a heck of a deal on mine. But then again, it also might be
that I bought mine in the fall of the year, when the boating season was
al most over.

Two years later, with way higher fuel prices, and the used market
goes...up?

wrote in message
oups.com...


Oddly enough Chuck, I've watched Ebay for the last 4 years on used
craft of various sizes, makes, and conditions, and have noticed that
prices seem to be up in the used boat market[s].

most strange.....



Ebay? ... with the seller's brothers and uncles bidding up the price?

Not a good standard for prices.

RCE