Even as the global luxury goods market stumbled in 2024, interest in collectible items like watches, wine, and handbags continues to increase – especially among younger members of the ultra-wealthy set.
“There has been a philosophical shift from viewing art and collectibles as purely a passion,” Drew Watson, the head of art services at Bank of America Private Bank (BAC), told Quartz. “Now people are seeing that there’s real economic value and are thinking of them as an asset class.”
In the 2024 Bank of America Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans, 65% of respondents said they were interested in collectibles – but that number jumped to 94% of individuals under the age of 44. Millennials and Gen Z-ers are at least twice as likely as their older counterparts to collect watches, alcohol, rare or classic cars, sneakers and antiques.
These shifting generational interests also seem to have had a notable impact on the market in 2024. The recently released Douglas Elliman and Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, showed an 18.3% decline in the value of fine art – “with the market seeing a total reversal from the double-digit growth of 2023 and a worse performance than during the COVID-19 crisis when values fell 17%,” according to the report.
At the same time, however, the report highlighted small but significant growth in the markets for handbag, jewelry, coins, watches, and cars.
“The ultimate classic handbag, the Hermès Birkin in black Togo leather, is now more valuable than ever when sold on the secondary market,” the report read.
While there are several factors that contribute to younger generations’ shifting interests in luxury goods, Watson highlighted the digital nature of the collectibles market as being especially significant to their appeal to younger generations – particularly when compared to the more traditional art market.
“Collectibles are more readily transactable online than fine art,” he said. “These categories also are more easily accessible to newer collectors than fine art. With fine art you have to have a certain context and education to really understand what is out there, what your tastes are, and how to access them.”
“With watches, handbags, and wine,” he continued, “it’s a lot more accessible. You can really boil these kinds of collectibles down to key attributes that drive their value.”
Watson noted that auction houses, like Christie’s, are increasingly investing in luxury collectibles because these markets are viewed as the “gateway drug” into collecting higher value fine art. By bringing clients into the collecting world through Patek watches and Birkin bags, auction houses are able to further educate and upsell their clients on the world of paintings and sculptures.
“It’s great for the auction houses too because sourcing high value consignments of fine art is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” he said.
Continue reading to see which collectible goods markets saw the most growth in 2024, according to the Douglas Elliman and Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index.
