A shrinking inventory of newer preowned business jets and turboprops is threatening overall values as the remaining for-sale fleet gives way to older, harder-to-sell aircraft, according to Asset Insight’s first quarter 2019 Market Report that was released late last week. The report analyzes values for every production year of modern make and model business aircraft listed for sale during the period.
During the first quarter, overall demand—measured by days on the market and percent of the make and model fleet for sale—improved slightly, helped by large-cabin and midsize business aircraft, while asking prices for midsize and light jets rose by 3.4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. But as a whole, the overall value of the report’s tracked pre-owned fleet decreased 5 percent in the three-month period.
As the for-sale fleet of business aircraft continues to trend older, asking prices are expected to slide because of a decline in fleet quality and an increase in maintenance exposure, according to the Las Vegas-based firm’s report.
“Newer aircraft continue to sell quickly and for solid prices, but there are fewer and fewer of those low-time, high-quality aircraft available on the market,” said Asset Insight president Tony Kioussis. “Buyers could see real opportunities in the second quarter for older, higher-time aircraft, as we expect prices to continue to decline across all market segments.”