2023 Power Catamaran Market Study - sponsored by Euro Sail Yacht
As we count down the days to the 2023 International Multihull Show, Boats Group is excited to share the key highlights from our 2023 Multihull Market Study. If there’s one thing that stands out in this year’s findings, it’s the emergence of a fast-moving sector of multihulls – power catamarans.
With new models continuing to arrive on the scene, we’re confident the power catamaran market is a force to be reckoned with, and its growth is a welcome development for the multihull market at large. Here’s a closer look at what we found after analysing our data.
Power catamarans – a growing market presence
Catamarans have always been a decisive favourite for a number of reasons, including their length-to-volume ratio, stability, lower energy consumption, shallow draught, living space and user-friendliness. And while power catamarans are not new, we’re seeing significant growth in interest, and for larger and more expensive units in particular.
According to our research, power catamaran listings have increased by 32.9% in 2022, with 1,835 listings compared to 1,381 in the previous year. This is still low compared to 2020, the year of the pandemic, but that being said, we’re seeing much higher leads and leads per listing in 2022 than two years ago, allowing us to understand that buyers are becoming more decisive.
Indeed, new power catamaran listings have doubled in 2022. The ratio of new versus used listings was almost 50/50 in 2022 compared to 2021, which shows that OEMs are responding to the increased search and market demand, which is normalising to pre-pandemic levels. This is significant because just the year before, there were twice as many used listings as new listings. The number of leads were also up from the previous year, with almost 50% more leads for new boats in 2022, and 21% more for used.
Power cat buyers are going premium
Our numbers reveal that power catamaran buyers’ behaviour is changing. Although the number of power catamaran listing views decreased in 2022, the number of leads went up by 28.7% over the year. What’s more, boat buyers are searching for more expensive boats. In 2022, the same number of boats sold in the £250-500k price range as in the £1-5 million price range. Compare that to the previous year, when £250-500k price range boats outsold their £1-5 million price range counterparts by 60%. Now, power cat buyers appear to be willing – and able – to reach higher.
Where are these buyers? Well, France remains the most popular country for catamarans. They have topped the list for three years in a row, this year followed by Italy in second place and Spain in third. Italy shows the sharpest rise in interest for power cats over the last year, pushing Australia out of the top 3, where it had been since 2020. However, although its number of listings and views have slightly decreased in 2022 compared to 2021, leads and sales have increased in France, helping the country maintain the lead.
While we see fluctuations among the top 5 power catamaran brands, Fountaine Pajot emerges as the market-leading brand for both supply (listings) and demand (views) for two years running.
Searches for power catamarans continue to rise
Catamaran searches are up 28% over the previous year. They first saw a sharp rise during the summer of the pandemic in 2020, and have continued to rise since. August has been the top month for catamaran searches since 2017, peaking in August 2022 with 332,122 searches – the highest number in five years.
Of course, searches tell only a part of the story. But conversion rates have also increased in the past two years. As hinted earlier, larger boats are getting more listings and more leads. Compared to 2020, the market has experienced a 74% increase in lead generation and a whopping 347% increase in leads-per-listing. For B2C demand, we look at the number of leads in proportion to views, and demand has been steadily increasing since 2020.
Finally, it’s important to know where people search online. Boats.com has been the portal with the highest volume of power catamaran searches for three years running. Users trust boats.com for the wealth of reviews, guides, articles and helpful how-tos, making it a reliable platform to get help with making a power cat purchase, or to list your next power cat for sale.
If you’re going to the 2023 International Multihull Show, drop by the exhibitor village and we’d be happy to chat about what these findings mean for your business. Also note that the above is just a summary of our study – we hope it’s inspired you to find out more by accessing the full version in the link below.
Learn more about the rapidly evolving multihull market. Check out our full 2023 Multihull market study.
This study is sponsored by Euro Sail Yacht: the historic Italian Dealer for Fountaine Pajot.
Euro Sail Yacht is present across Italy, in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea, and has boat stock available for seasons 2023-’24’-’25 such as ASTREA 42 | ELBA | MY6 | POWER 67 and more. Click on this link to view their boats.
Or get in touch via: sales@eurosailyacht.com or +39 346 378 8888 today!
