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The Rich Continue to Buy Art Even as the Market Slumps. The Younger Generation Is Joining In.

Oct 23, 2025 14:06:00 -0400 by Abby Schultz | #Wealth

The biggest spenders of art were the oldest—the boomer generation, according to a new survey. (Courtesy of Art Basel)

Key Points

The art market has one factor in its favor during uncertain geopolitical and economic times: wealthy collectors continue to buy art.

Collectors with at least $1 million in disposable financial wealth who were contacted for the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting this year allocated 20% of their wealth, on average, to art, up from a 15% allocation in 2024.

Still, a continuing slump in big-ticket purchases, and the uncertainties surrounding U.S. tariffs and related cross-border trade issues, meant aggregate sales of art globally showed little sign of change in the first half of this year after falling 12% in 2024, to $57.5 billion.

At the top auction houses—the most public way to track the market—sales slumped an aggregate 7% in the first half from a year earlier.

UBS and Art Economics surveyed 3,100 active collectors with at least $1 million in disposable financial assets in 10 markets across the U.S., U.K., Europe, Asia, and Brazil in the middle of the year. The report is in its 12th year.

Increasingly, these collectors are from younger generations—only 1% are baby boomers (roughly aged 61 to 79) while a quarter are Gen X (45 to 60), more than half are millennials (29 to 44), and 19% are Gen Z (20 to 28). These shifting demographics are changing the complexion of art that is bought and how much is spent.

The researchers made sure at least half of those surveyed were women, Clare McAndrew, report author and founder of Arts Economics said in a virtual discussion of the report held Thursday morning. The resulting survey revealed female collectors spent 46% more on art than men last year.

“We’re seeing a bit of a generational shift in collecting born out in real time and in some of Clare’s data…with its emphasis on a younger generation, on more female voices coming through the market, [and] certainly older collectors, to some degree, less engaged,” Noah Horowitz, CEO, Art Basel, said in the discussion of the report.

On average, collectors spent nearly $439,000 each on 14 works of art and antiques in 2024, and $331,260 in the first half of this year. But, the report notes, purchases by big spenders pushed up the average: 10% of those surveyed spent more than $500,000 and 7% spent more than $1 million last year.

That is evident in the median spend level of collectors, which was only $22,000 in the first half of this year, similar to the median $24,000 spent in all of 2024.

The biggest spenders were the oldest. The boomer generation may have only represented 1% of respondents, but, on average, they spent about $992,980 on art in 2024, compared with $270,590 for Gen X, $523,330 for millennials, and $393,600 for Gen Z.

Over the past six years, these annual surveys of collectors have shown that the rich who actively buy art tend to allocate 15% to 24% of their wealth to the sector in good markets and bad. It also shows that the wealthier art collectors become, the more art they buy. The very wealthiest—those with at least $50 million in assets—this year allocated 28% of their wealth to art on average, up 3% from a year earlier.

Although collectors may be concerned their children won’t be as interested in art—or the type of art they like—as they are, the survey found that 84% of today’s collectors inherited works representing nearly 30% of their collections. That includes Gen Z collectors, nearly 90% of whom kept art they inherited.

But these younger collectors are different. Though they still buy at galleries and fairs, more are buying directly from artists and are using mobile technology and digital tools to reach them, Horowitz said.

According to the research, 63% of collectors bought directly from an artist, up from 27% in 2023. Of these collectors, 43% bought directly from artist studios, while 37% commissioned works and 35% bought through a link on Instagram—where artists increasingly show their works for sale.

Gen Z buyers are also more interested in new media and digital art than their boomer counterparts, who prefer painting and sculpture, Horowitz said.

Among boomers, 77% of their collections were paintings, sculptures, and works on paper compared with only 50% for Gen Z, which instead held 18% of their collections in photography, prints and multiples, 12% in digital art, 9% in film and video, and 11% in “other,” the survey showed.

The survey also found that collectors don’t only go for blue-chip classics, with two-thirds buying works by artists they discovered for the first time both this year and last, up 8% year-over-year.

“At Art Basel, we have to be incredibly attuned to this in terms of how we engage the market [and] how we think through the types of programs that we build to create meaningful touch points with new collecting communities, but new artistic communities as well,” Horowitz said.

No doubt, buying would have been more brisk had the world seemed to be a more certain place. Collectors expressed worries over about geopolitical and economic issues affecting cross-border trade, fluctuations in the art market, and transparency, among other concerns.

In the U.S., the value of imports of art and antiques in the first half rose a slight 3% year-over-year, but the uptick may have been because of front-loading imports into the country ahead of potential tariffs, the report said. It noted that the announced policies exempted some fine art, photos, and posters, but not all antiques and design pieces. Artwork from China and some other regions are also subject to tariffs.

“Clarity around the policies and retaliatory measures from trading partners are still evolving, creating layers of uncertainty and risk and generating wider negative effects on trade flows, pricing, and spending that indirectly impact even exempted trade,” the report said.

Write to Abby Schultz at abby.schultz@barrons.com