The available inventory of preowned business aircraft crept up in the third quarter, but so too did the overall asking price, according to the latest report from Asset Insight.

Demand remained strong and the quality rating of the for-sale fleet fell into Asset Insight’s “excellent range.” Further encouraging signs in the preowned market was that the maintenance exposure—the cost of embedded or accrued maintenance needs for available aircraft—remained stable, Asset Insight reported.

The percent of the active fleet listed for sale has inched up from the trough earlier this year to 4 percent. While inventory has increased monthly since March, this is still below the total percentage of 5.6 percent of the September 2021 available fleet that Asset Insight tracks. Turboprops and large aircraft are in the shortest supply at 3.2 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. Young, low-time inventory remains scarce, the aircraft valuation specialist added.

Average days on market improved 25 percent during the third quarter to 227, which Asset Insight noted marked a second consecutive historically low figure.

Pricing, meanwhile, is up 8.9 percent on average in the third quarter and up 53.8 percent from September a year ago. Light and midsize jets are leading the year-over-year gains, up 67.6 percent and 60.2 percent, respectively. Since the beginning of the year, midsize jet asking prices have soared by 140.3 percent.

Quality rating softened during the quarter but still was considered excellent and marked an improvement from a year ago. Maintenance exposure remained unchanged but increased for midsize jets and turboprops in the quarter, Asset Insight reported.

“The preowned business aircraft market continues to defy the generally accepted laws of supply and demand,” said Asset Insight president Tony Kioussis. “As we enter the final quarter of 2022, we have to ask ourselves: what will give and when? The fourth quarter of 2022 and full-year 2023 should be quite illuminating.”