Posted
After welcoming in 2025 with our celebration of 10 years of professional yacht brokerage, the rest of the Grabau International year has been another positive, productive, and successful one, but undoubtedly challenging for the market in general.
As we continue to grow, so do our numbers, with 2025 seeing almost 2,500 feet of yachts successfully sold by the Grabau International team with a combined value exceeding 30 million Euros. To replenish our stocks, the team have worked hard during the year to build the listings base, welcoming in almost 4,000 feet of fresh listings with a combined value approaching 50 million Euros. As we move into 2026, we carry a sizeable fleet of yachts under contract and an even larger fleet of new listings being prepared to hit the market in January and February.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing. While we do not profess to be experts of global economics or politics, and we certainly don’t intend to write volumes on the subject, it is clear that international events, and in particular, the profound effects of the recent change in US administration, the ongoing situation in Ukraine and the relationship of Russia with Europe has all played its part in unsettling and cooling the yachting market.
Coupled with this, we also have the situation where owners of yachts purchased at firm prices during the ‘Covid peak’ are discovering that the current (and arguably more normalised) market is unlikely to support the sorts of returns they would like to see. At the same time, the cost of new builds continues to skyrocket. Because of this, we are seeing many owners keep the boats they have, rather than continue the usual trend of changing upwards/sideways or downward every few years. As these owners often become buyers after selling their boats, this, in turn, has led to fewer buyers and fewer sellers. In short, the market has contracted, and we are finding ourselves neither in a buyer’s nor a seller’s market, but in a smaller one. It is a crucial point for potential buyers to consider, as in a market of indifferent or reluctant sellers, presenting low offers or making unreasonable demands post-survey is unlikely to secure the desired outcome.
Having said all of this, despite the springtime ‘wobble’ where the US administration’s games of ‘tariff-roulette’ caused short-term mayhem to pension investments and consequently a notable reduction in buyers taking their retirement lump-sums to fund pre-season yacht purchases, overall, we have seen strong levels of business concluded across all our markets during 2025. The continued hard work and dedication of the Grabau International team are once again key to this success. Professional yacht brokerage is a 7-day-a-week, 52-weeks-a-year business, and our focus always remains solely on the job in hand. Unlike many, we choose not to be involved in selling refits, boatyard space, marine finance, registration services, lifestyle publications, or other ‘add-ons’. We will always be happy to make introductions to the excellent specialists out there who can do all those jobs far better than we can, but for us, our business is binary. We list and sell yachts… nothing more, and nothing less.
Sitting alongside the global challenges that shape demand in our market, the continued spiralling of marketing costs through 2025 has presented immense difficulties for our industry. With our own marketing budget now many multiples of what it was just a few years ago, simply selling a yacht is no longer a guarantee of profit. The extreme increase in costs has forced many brokerage companies to scale back their marketing, distancing themselves from buyers and sellers, or, worse, shut up shop entirely. At Grabau International, we pride ourselves on maintaining an industry-leading marketing programme, and we are delighted to confirm that going into 2026, we have no plans to change this.
Unlike many who have been forced to raise brokerage commissions to bridge the gap, we have no plans to follow suit. The days of heavily reduced brokerage commissions are long gone. While it will always be possible to find a broker prepared to list your boat for a knock-down commission, you should ask where and how they are going to market your boat, whether they are members of any professional regulatory body, adequately insured and whether they are holding client funds in properly segregated client accounts.
As is traditional in our end-of-year report, what follows is a brief month-by-month highlights reel of yachts listed and sold through Grabau International. With that said, on behalf of the entire Grabau International team, I would like to thank all our clients, both new and old, for your continued support of our business, and to wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.
Alex Grabau – Founder & Managing Director.
Successful sale of the 2010 Vismara V67 Custom ‘RED CARPET’.
New listing of the 2023 Catana Ocean Class ‘GARBINA’.
New listing of the 2023 Excess 14 ‘ALARA’.
Successful sale of the 2021 Pogo 12.50 ‘SARENNE’.
Successful sale of the 2007 Apreamare Maestro 51 ‘THE MAGICIAN’.
New listing of the 2017 Solaris 50 ‘ALOHA’.
New listing of the 2009 Najad 410 ‘HUMBUG’.
Successful sale of the 2007 X-Yachts X-50 ‘SVEVA’.
Successful sale of the 1975 Nautor Swan 44 ‘JOCONDE’.
New listing of the 1976 Baltic Yachts 83 Custom ‘IPERO’.
New listing of the 2021 Beneteau First 53 ‘MOWGLI’.
Successful sale of the 2023 Trimarine GP70 ‘CATCH ME’.
Successful sale of the 1994 Nauta 65 ‘SOUTH WIND’.
Successful sale of the 2008 X-Yachts X-50 ‘X-RAY’.
Successful sale of the 2018 Ice Yachts ICE 33 ‘PHELIA’.
Successful sale of the 2004 Grand Banks 46 Classic ‘ANNE OF ARDFERN’.
Successful sale of the 2016 XO Boats XO-360 ‘VAPOUR TRAIL’.
New listing of the 2002 Trader 535 Signature ‘ TRADEWINDS’.
New listing of the 2021 Ultimate Boats X-Class 11m RIB ‘STORMBIRD’.
Successful sale of the 2010 X-Yachts X-65 ‘DOS MUCH’.
Successful sale of the 1997 Baltic Yachts 64 ‘PIXELION’.
Successful sale of the 2000 Stella Polare Starkel 64 ‘STELLA MARIS’.
New listing of the 2016 X-Yachts X6.5 ‘ABRAXAS 4’.
New listing of the 1994 Hoek Custom 55 ‘TINTAGEL’.
Successful sale of the 1986 Carlini 22m Ketch ‘CARMEN SERIDA’.
Successful sale of the 2004 Grand Soleil 56 ‘PAOLISSIMA’.
Successful sale of the 2005 Hylas 54 ‘EN-DEILIG’.
New listing of the 2007 Sweden Yachts 54 ‘GULLIVER’.
New listing of the 2000 X-Yachts X-482 ‘BLUE LION’.
Successful sale of the 2018 Ice Yachts ICE CAT 61 ‘STELLA ROSA’.
Successful sale of the 2011 Vismara V50 ‘SUPEREVA’.
Successful sale of the 2015 Catana Bali 4.5 ‘VEGANA’.
New listing of the 2004 Baltic Yachts 50 ‘ELEVEN’.
New listing of the 2002 Najad 490 ‘LA CONTENTA’.
Successful sale of a new-build OQS Ocean Explorer 62.
Successful sale of the 1983 Baltic Yachts 51 ‘DEW’.
Successful sale of the 2019 Shogun Yachts 50 ‘LADYKILLER’.
Successful sale of the 2000 Sunbeam 44 ‘PIVOT’.
Successful sale of the 2008 Sly Yachts 42 ‘RENOVATIO’.
New listing of the 1999 Baltic Yachts 73 PH ‘AURORA’.
New listing of the 2022 Mylius 60 FD ‘FRAKANI 2’.
Successful sale of the 1981 Little Harbor 62 ‘BLUE ITACA’.
Successful sale of the 2002 Mystic 60 ‘GREGAL V’.
Successful sale of the 1987 Nautor Swan 53 ‘KRISTAL II’.
Successful sale of the 2007 Sweden Yachts 42 ‘SOLACE’.
Successful sale of the 2002 Alubat Ovni 385 ‘IKIGAI’.
Successful sale of the 1998 Victoria 38 ‘JOCARA’.
Successful sale of the 2010 Morris Yachts M29 ‘SKYLARK’.
New listing of the 2006 Gunboat 48 ‘DANCING BEAR’.
New listing of the 2024 Glacier Yachts 48 C ‘FILIPP’OK’.
Successful sale of the 1984 19m Steel Staysail Schooner ‘MUSTAMAIJA’.
Successful sale of the 1992 Rival Bowman 48AC ‘KELPER BAY’.
New listing of the 2022 Solaris 64 RS ‘PETIT CHEVAL BLANC’.
New listing of the 2013 Hanse 575 ‘BELLA LUCE’.
Successful sale of the 2002 Maxi Dolphin MD65 ‘ONLY LU’.
Successful sale of the 1994 Wally 65 ‘EDIMETRA’.
Successful sale of the 2016 Vismara V56 Mills ‘GEMINI’.
Successful sale of the 2007 Hylas 46 ‘CHINA BLUE’.
Successful sale of the 1997 Malo 42 ‘WILD ORCHID’.
New listing of the 2021 Wauquiez Pilot Saloon 48 ‘MAHI MAHI’.
New listing of the 2018 Neo 350 ‘DIA’.
Successful sale of the 1998 Baltic Yachts 50 ‘MUSIC’.
New listing of the 2019 OQS Ocean Explorer 60 ‘EASTER WITCH’.
New listing of the 2020 Hallberg-Rassy 57 ‘KAAP HOORN’.
New listing of the 2009 Oyster OM43 ‘YLVA’.
To discuss your planned sale or purchase of a sailing or motor yacht in 2026, please contact:-
Alex Grabau – Grabau International HQ & Madeira
email –alex@grabauinternational.com
tel – +44(0)7989 575669
James McNeil – Grabau International South Coast
email –james@grabauinternational.com
tel – +44(0)7979 907210
Mark Cameron – Grabau International Scotland
email –mark@grabauinternational.com
tel – +44(0)7988 763254
Jonas Renlund – Grabau International Scandinavia (Finland)
email – jonas@grabauinternational.com
tel – +358 40 809 8688
Matias Renlund – Grabau International Scandinavia (Sweden)
email – matias@grabauinternational.com
tel – +358 40 686 1501
Michele Antonini – Grabau International Italia
email –michele@grabauinternational.com
tel – +39 333 74 89 271
Lucio Pellegrini – Grabau International Palma & Barcelona
email – lucio@grabauinternational.com
tel – +34 675 236174
Vittorio Papa – Grabau International Palma
email – vittorio@grabauinternational.com
tel – +34 634 339 009
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