PORSCHE MARKET RECAP FOR August 2024
Ninety Million Dollars. $90m. $90,000,000. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that number. For context, over the last two years of tracking the market, the highest total dollar volume of Porsches sold in a single month was $59.9m in December of last year. And the market just trounced that by $30m.
Now, you might be saying, “of course it was a good month, we had Monterey!” Well, August of 2023 produced just $58m from 680 cars on offer selling at a 66% sell-through rate (STR). Monterey alone this year almost reached that number, with $54.5m in sales from 141 Porsches on offer selling at a 68% STR. So how did it break down, and where was the uptick in what many people have been calling a “correcting market?”
As you probably assumed, that uptick came at the very top of the market thanks to sixteen million-dollar-plus sales compared to just seven last year. And of those sixteen, six hammered at a higher price than our $1.9 top sale of Monterey 2023. Leading the pack was an uber-rare 1997 911 GT1 Rennversion that hammered at $6.4m followed by a 1976 935 at $3.9m. Both are rare cars and deserving of their high bids, but for me, I was very excited to see the first Singer DLS and a RUF CTR 2.
The Dynamics & Lightweight Study (DLS) from Singer hammered at $2.8m, about on par with asking prices online when you add in the buyer’s fee. The RUF CTR 2 set a new record for ANY RUF sold at auction at a final bid of $1.9m. With the previous RUF high of $1.8m for a 25th Anniversary CTR, it makes you wonder what a truly rare-as-hen’s-teeth original CTR would sell for these days. $4-5m? Let’s hope we get a chance to find out soon.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows at the top of the market, though. Early Porsche race cars and prototypes continued to struggle at auction with neither of the 550 Spyders selling along with a 718 RSK, 904 GTS, and 906 Carrera 6. But the biggest surprise was how sluggish bids were on Carrera 2.7 RS’. The last two 2.7 RS Lightweights we saw at auction achieved just below $2m. All three 2.7 RS Lightweights failed to sell at Monterey with the highest bid being just $1.2m.
So Monterey was stellar, but what about the rest of the market? August 2024 brought in $34.7m from a huge 701 units with a STR of 66% compared to $31.9m from 560 units and a 68% STR last year and $30.5m from 616 units and a STR of 66% last month.
We saw a number of firsts this month with the first 2024 911 S/T to hit the auction block selling at a final bid of $602,500. We also saw the first 2023 911 GT3 RS with the Tribute to Carrera RS sell for $487,500 followed by a second example selling for $460,000.
Overall, the market continues to chug along with most models selling at or around average prices plus or minus a few thousand dollars. The best of the bunch continue to bring the money, as they should, and the rest seem to be a harder sell as it appears the market is becoming a bit more patient with their money.
Next month brings us sales with Mecum in Dallas and the annual Saratoga Motorcar Auction in New York. I expect things to stay pretty steady, but my expectations have been trounced before!
- David K. Whitlock is a writer for The Stuttgart Market Letter, a daily market update for Porschephiles, by Porschephiles, delivered free to your inbox. To sign up, go to: stuttgartmarketletter.com