US & European Auction Analysis – May 2012

• Analyst: Anders Petterson, Nathan Engelbrecht
• Pages: 6
• Access: Analyst

Contemporary art market only 5% below previous peak in May 2008. When we consider the US & European Auction Analysis the overall auction total for the three Post-war and Contemporary Evening sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury came to an impressive $633,795,000.  This was against a pre-sale estimate of $528,550,000 – $740,070,000.  Indeed, this was the second highest Post-war and Contemporary Evening sales total ever.  The results came in 37% higher than May 2011 and 14% more than November 2011.

The average auction price for the three sales was $4,559,676, which is the highest average price achieved for a New York Contemporary Evening sale, and was 24% higher than the peak of the market in May 2008.