The art market is back in growth mode, but it's a narrow rebound led by the ultra-wealthy. A new Art Basel and UBS report pegs 2025 global art sales at $59.6 billion, up 4% after two down years but still shy of 2022's peak. Public auctions did the heavy lifting with a 9% jump, while galleries saw just a 2% rise and auction-house private sales slipped 5%. The volume of deals barely moved—up 2% to 41.5 million—signaling that higher prices on a limited number of trophy works, not broader activity, drove the recovery, ARTNews reports. The report described the recovery as "modest" and "uneven."
The US, UK, and China kept their grip on the trade, together representing 76% of sales by value, with the US alone at 44%. Big-money lots surged: works over $1 million gained 21% in value, and those above $10 million climbed 30%, even as sub-$50,000 sales edged down. Collectors leaned into safer bets, lifting Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Old Masters while Postwar and Contemporary cooled. Galleries face rising costs and a squeezed middle, but openings still outnumber closures. Art fairs grew to 35% of dealer sales, and online-only business shrank. Works by female artists surged to 50% among primary market galleries and 45% across all dealers, the report found.
"The performance of the high end tends to shape the overlying trend," report author Clare McAndrew tells the New York Times. "People felt more confident," she says. "But it's not the cutting-edge contemporary that's doing well. It's the established artists." The report found that dealers are optimistic about strong sales in 2026, with large sales of inherited collections expected. McAndrew doesn't expect war and other instability to be a major drag on art sales. "Everyone is saturated with bad news," she says. "People carry on regardless. You just become slightly immune to it."
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