Why Ultra-High-Net-Worth Yacht Buyers Have Lost Their Sense of Urgency

• Miles Yachts
• February 20, 2026

Why Ultra-High-Net-Worth Yacht Buyers Have Lost Their Sense of Urgency
By: Andrew Miles, Miles Yacht Group

Caution returns to Yacht Shopping
Over the past few years, we watched genuine urgency enter the superyacht market. Inventory was scarce, travel options were limited, and large yachts felt like a rational lifestyle hedge. That urgency is gone. Today, even the most capable buyers are moving slowly, questioning valuations, and waiting for clarity.

In my view, three forces are driving this: a more expensive and unpredictable tariff environment on imported yachts, higher and more volatile build costs out of Europe and the Far East, and a broader uneasiness about where the U.S. and global economies go next.

Tariffs: real money on every new build
For U.S. clients looking at European or Asian yards, tariffs are no longer a footnote. In 2025, changes to the U.S. tariff schedule pushed duties on some foreign-built yachts into the 20–30 percent range, with Chinese-built product facing around 30 percent and several other exporting countries, including key yacht-building nations, seeing effective rates in the 20–25 percent band. On a multi-million-dollar yacht, that duty becomes a separate seven-figure decision, not a rounding error.

The more important story is that policy has turned choppy. The U.S. flagged roughly 20 percent tariffs on a wide group of European exports—including recreational boats—then partially suspended implementation while a new trade deal with the EU was hammered out. The EU, in turn, prepared up to 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-built boats and marine components before also standing down once the agreement framework was in place.

Clients read the same headlines we do. Commit to a new build today and you may discover a different tariff landscape when the boat actually ships, clears customs or is later resold. For a rational UHNW buyer, that uncertainty alone is a reason to slow down.

Build costs and shipping: the “all-in” price keeps moving
Tariffs are only one piece. The all-in cost to produce and move a large yacht has risen, and it moves around more than it used to. European yards that rely on imported engines, electronics and specialty materials have had to deal with higher duties and freight on many of those components. Even when currency shifts help offset some of it, the net effect is a higher and less predictable build cost.

On the logistics side, yacht and heavy-lift shipping has been hit by the same disruptions seen in container trades. Rerouted services, blank sailings, insurance and fuel surcharges have all pushed transport costs up versus the pre-pandemic era. When you add tariff risk on top of a higher, more volatile freight bill, it is harder for a buyer to feel confident they know their true delivered cost two or
three years out.

For buyers who already own good tonnage, the logical response is to keep what they have, use it, and wait. If the policy and cost picture improves, they can step into the next yacht on better terms. If it does not, they have preserved capital and flexibility.

The luxury backdrop: from euphoria to caution
The broader luxury environment has also shifted gears. After years of doubledigit growth, the global luxury market cooled in 2024 and 2025. Research on the sector shows growth slowing, Chinese demand under pressure, and fewer brands able to push through price increases without resistance. Visa’s global data on high-end retail spending confirms that participation in luxury spending dipped in major markets
in early 2025—an unusual development outside of formal recessions.

That matters because yachts sit at the very top of this stack. When wealthy households are already trimming around the edges—fewer impulsive purchases, more selectivity—they carry that mindset into big-ticket decisions. A yacht that felt like a must-have in 2021 can feel like an optional asset in 2026.

You can see it in behavior. A 2025 analysis of the luxury sector noted that tariff worries and macro uncertainty pushed many affluent buyers to “hit pause” on large discretionary purchases, with the share of brands showing growth shrinking sharply year-on-year. UHNW yacht  clients are doing the same thing: moving from fear of missing out to fear of overpaying.​

The superyacht market is still active—just more rational
This doesn’t mean the market is dead. It has normalized. Global 24m+ brokerage volumes reset in 2023 to a bit over 200 sales after the pandemic spike, then held in that general range as 2024 and 2025 unfolded. The key difference is that deals are getting done on more disciplined terms, with less panic about missing the “last good boat.”

On the new-build side, the order book is still healthy relative to historic norms, but growth has clearly moderated. At the peak, superyacht orders climbed into the mid300s worldwide; more recent figures suggest a step down into the high200s to low300s as markets digested higher prices and more policy risk. Some owners who locked in at peak costs are now looking harder at delivery timing, specification
and exit values.

The takeaway is that today’s UHNW buyer knows there is inventory and choice. They are less willing to stretch on price or timing just to avoid missing out. For those of us working in the market every day, it feels like a rotation back toward fundamentals: specification, quality, pricing, liquidity and, increasingly, policy.

What buyers are really asking now
When I sit down with serious clients today, the conversation usually circles around three questions:

• How are tariffs and duties being handled on this specific yacht, and what happens if the rules
  change midstream?
• What is my likely exit in three to five years if the economy slows or policy tightens again?
• Why is this the right yacht, at this price, right now—rather than six or twelve months from now?

Those are healthy questions. They force all of us—buyers, brokers and builders—to price risk properly instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.

For clients, the practical message is this: you no longer have to buy in a panic. There is time to be selective, structure around tariffs where possible, and use good data on values and liquidity to support a decision. For the right yacht, in the right band, there are still compelling opportunities. The lack of urgency you see in the headlines is not the absence of demand; it is the return of discipline to a market that badly needed it.