WSJ - boat/RV market in decline.

[mvweebles]

WSJ article (paywall) article describing post-Covid hangover in boat/RV prices is manifesting itself. Granted, includes smaller towable boats, but trends are clear.

https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/its-a-buyers-market-for-boats-rvs-and-other-pandemic-toys-3d8b4787?st=21fodgypohbgxhx&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

[FWT]

Interesting that the new boat sales are dead level over that timeframe except for the small spike in 2020-2021. The swing is in the used market. Which makes common sense to me. The new market entails commitment and a planning timeline that extends over years. Decision, selection, order, construction, delivery.

New absolutely is not an impulse purchase.

Used is populated by both committed repeat owners as well as newbies giving it a go, and we all see newbies on social media who suddenly decide to do The Loop and are looking for boats that fit tight budgets and don't yet understand what an honest budget looks like. The newbies have some impulse purchases in there, likely more influenced by changes in the monthly payments from interest rate swings.

Meanwhile, used demand for the serious cruiser sorts of boats and brands readers here gravitate to appears to be holding up. Good boats from good brands appear to continue to sell quickly.

 

[FWT]

Meanwhile, I am not an RV owner nor considering one. But YouTube seems to see a commonality of interest and feeds me clips on RV's as well as boats. The RV world is rocked by the impact of shoddy construction, with new RV's rendered useless by serious problems like frames breaking as well as gear failures. With an absence of dealer commitment to repair. I run into a series of folks on the street who would like to give an RV a try but are scared of being stuck with a broken unit and the financial disaster that represents.

So, while on the surface there is some commonality, there are also different dynamics in play that are quite different.

 

[sunchaser]

I saw this WSJ article and noted the focus on lake boats and RVs. In a nutshell these areas are an indicator of less available toy money due to higher interest rates, a softening economy and a generational shift from outdoor activities to couch potatoes and keyboard enthusiasts.

 

[rslifkin]

Interesting that the new boat sales are dead level over that timeframe except for the small spike in 2020-2021. The swing is in the used market. Which makes common sense to me. The new market entails commitment and a planning timeline that extends over years. Decision, selection, order, construction, delivery.

This doesn't surprise me either, as many builders can't ramp up their production rates by a large amount quickly. So the demand may have increased, but the supply of new boats didn't go up much.

 

[PNK]

I was surprised to learn that about 70% of boat buyers - new and used - finance their boat with some kind of loan, so the bar chart looks to me as if the main driver of the slowdown is interest rates. There has been a similar slowdown in home sales, both new and used, which mirrors the rise in interest rates.

Peter