In Focus
In Focus is our platform to explore the art market, and the broader art ecology in depth.
The Art Market’s New Direction
8.4.2025
As early indications of what 2025 will bring are beginning to show, market analysts artnet has published its first market insights report of this year. A significant new trend emerging in the international art market, as unpacked by arnet, is the impact of the ‘great wealth transfer’. The generational shift of wealth over the next 20 years is likely to have a sizable impact on the art market, and the next generation of collectors are already setting the tone of what the future of the global art world could look like. artnet report:
“A new generation of art patrons is coming into its own, poised to reshape the art market. Millennials and Gen Zers accounted for a quarter to a third of bidders and buyers at the two major houses in 2024, more than doubling their share in five years. Unlike earlier generations, which prized connoisseurship while amassing both new and historical work, the “next gen” is hyper-focused on the present. In addition to buying emerging art, they are pushing up prices for nontraditional collectibles that were once unimaginable as marquee auction lots, such as sneakers, comic books, and Hermès bags.”
This trend is interesting from several perspectives. Firstly, it indicates that younger generations see investment in art and culture in more holistic terms rather than the traditionally siloed sectors of art, design and fashion. Secondly, the report notes that there is a distinct shift away from their parents' taste, with younger generations having a greater interest in the present or ‘ultra-contemporary’.
Overall picture of the market
Overall, there continues to be a market contraction globally. The Art Basel & UBS reported that sales in the global art market slowed in 2023, falling by 4% year-on-year to an estimated $65 billion. In 2024, sales across the board were down, with a 27.9% drop in fine art sales across the big three auction houses (Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Philips) (artnet, 2025). Interestingly, there has been a drop in high value artwork with a 44.2% decline in sales of artworks at auction valued at more $10 million at auction in 2024. Notably though, according to The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2024, new and emerging artists represented 52% were collected by high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in 2023 and the first half of 2024, which represents an increase of 8% compared with the previous survey.
Are these global trends reflected in the Australian art market?
The Australian art market is estimated to be less than 1% of the global market. Critically, the lack of Australian data makes it incredibly difficult to create a genuine picture of the market and evolving trends. The health of the Australian market is generally measured by the secondary market auction results and the reporting of the Sydney and Melbourne Art Fair sales of which a majority are primary market sales. If we read only into the results of these two measures, the market has been flatlining with $134 million of auction sales in 2024 down from $141 million and $144 million the previous two years. While auction sales are believed to only equate to 20% of the overall market, this flatlining can be seen in the sales results from Sydney Contemporary who reported AU$17.5 million in sales in 2024, down from AU$21 million in 2023, and in the Melbourne Art Fair sales which were almost the same in 2025 ($14.4 million) compared with 2024 ($14.1 million). Some other primary market data is available on the indigenous art market due to government data collection (through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program) and dealers self-reporting sales such as D’lan Contemporary who noted sales of approximately $30million in 2024 (with just under a fourth of these sales being generated from their New York premises).
Australian auction results also only tell a limited story of the art market trends - namely, a section of the investment market. With the top performers in 2024 being deceased white male artists, this clearly doesn’t recognise the booming indigenous market or the confidence in mid-career, currently practicing artists. As Robert Jensen, in his article titled The rise and fall and rise again of the contemporary art market, in the Journal of Cultural Economics, suggests “Auction data may tell us a great deal about art as an investment, but comparatively little about the financial benefits of the market for the makers of art” (2022, p.464).
With very limited primary data collected, it is difficult to see how the collecting trends of a new generation are unfolding. However, one significant indicator has emerged with the opening of a raft of new gallery spaces and the establishment of the next generation of dealers. From Sotiris Sotiriou’s significant upgrade in his recent move of COMA gallery to Marrickville, to the opening of Syrup Contemporary, Palas, Cassandria Bird Gallery, the new 1301SW and Ames Yavuz locations in Sydney, these show there is an appetite for the ultra-contemporary in Australia.
One significant point of difference with these dealers and gallerists is that they have a strong focus internationally, beyond the Venice Biennale. This includes both showing international artists to Australian audiences and showcasing Australian artists internationally to the world.
In discussing his gallery’s approach to the market, Soti (COMA gallery) notes “If I show international artists here early in their careers, then my Australian artists become part of a global conversation (AFR, Jan 2025).” Along with gallerists such as Ames Yavuz who have locations in Singapore and London, these gallerists are breaking out of the parochial Australian market to find a broader spectrum of clients in this more globalised art market.
With Art Basel Hong Kong recently wrapping up, this strategy is proving its worth, with art fair attendance in record numbers, including high attendance from Australian collectors. This shows that from both the buying and exhibiting side, Australian art market players are part of this globalised change, with the new generation of dealers likely bringing a new generation of collectors along too.
More to come!
References
https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/a-wave-of-new-commercial-galleries-is-shaking-up-the-establishment-20241108-p5kp4t
Robert Jensen, 2023. The rise and fall and rise again of the contemporary art market. Journal of Cultural Economics 47. 461–488. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-022-09458-3