Partner Article

Arts and antiques market experiences rebound

Prices in the arts and antiques market continue to rise with silver and jewellery leading the way, whilst contemporary art came back into favour following a year of price falls.

That’s the news from the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

In the final quarter of 2009 17% more surveyors reported rising rather than falling prices, up from 14% in the previous quarter.

Silver and jewellery remain the strongest sectors with 50% and 37% of surveyors reporting rising rather than falling prices in these categories respectively. These are traditionally seen as safe havens for investors, but their continuing strength can be attributed to the increased scrappage value of precious metals towards the end of the year.

Reversing four quarters of falling prices, the contemporary art market experienced a resurgence during the final three months of 2009. The balance of surveyors reporting rising rather than falling prices was 6 percent, the first positive reading since 2008.

David Coulson, RICS North East Chair, said: “Arts and antiques have remained pretty resilient throughout the recession and this latest survey once again demonstrates their strength as an investment class. It is interesting to see the contemporary market improve, although whether this is a temporary improvement following the Frieze art fair last October or a more solid turnaround remains to be seen.

“However it is clear that more traditional ‘safe haven’ items are still the preferred lots. As gold prices remained strong at the tail end of the 2009, the market witnessed heightened activity in precious metals and the demand for quality pieces was particularly noticeable in the salesrooms.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .