Porsche Market Recap – May 2026
After a strong first four months of the year, May kept the streak alive with another outstanding performance for the Porsche auction market. A total of 725 Porsches crossed the auction block, 75% of them finding new homes, for a total dollar volume of $65,909,440. Compare that to May 2025, when 651 cars generated $42,555,835 at a 71% sell-through rate, and it’s clear the market continues to build momentum. Leading the charge were some serious heavy hitters, including a 959 Komfort and no fewer than five Singer commissions. Alongside the usual online auction activity, May also featured Mecum’s Indy sale and a pair of Bonhams auctions in Miami and Greenwich, helping produce another exceptional month for the collector Porsche market.
This month belonged to Singer. With six 911s Reimagined by the company crossing the block, you’d have been forgiven for thinking it was Monterey Car Week instead of May. Five of the six found new homes, all were Classic Studies, and every one of them was bid to $1,000,000, or more. Leading the way was “The Michigan Commission,” a 1990 911 Coupe finished in Resistance Blue with ghosted stripes and Orange Singer script over a Cognac leather interior. Showing just 386 miles since completion and powered by Singer’s desirable 4.0-liter engine with velocity stacks, it hammered for an astounding $1,650,000 all-in, setting a new all-time auction record for a Singer Classic Study.
One of my favorite sales of the month came from the 993 Turbo market. At first glance, this 1996 Japanese-market Turbo looked like a beautifully presented Paint-to-Sample Wimbledon Green example over Classic Grey leather. But a closer look revealed something much more special. Equipped with Porsche Exclusive’s WLS 1 package, it was effectively a Turbo S in all but name, combining the X50 Power Kit with Turbo S details that were made available to a select group of Japanese buyers. The 993 Turbo market has been one of the strongest air-cooled segments over the past year, averaging $289,200, although the very best low-mileage examples have continued to stretch that number. This WLS 1 car rewrote the script. After the first example we tracked sold for $350,000 last November, this one blasted past every comparable, hammering at $560,000 to set a new twelve-month high for the model.
I always keep a close eye on the 914 market, as it’s a model my wife has been lusting after for years. Fourteen examples crossed the block in May, and it was another disappointing month for the 914/6. Just one of the four six-cylinder cars found a new home, and that was a race car at $82,599. The surprise of the month came from a standard four-cylinder 914. This beautifully restored 1971 914 1.7 had undergone a meticulous rotisserie restoration that returned it to its factory Gold Metallic finish, with the gallery documenting every step of the process. While the best 1.7-liter cars have typically traded in the $25,000 to $35,000 range over the past year, this example blew past those numbers, hammering at $72,000.
The 992.2 market finally showed a few signs of life in May after a sluggish start to the year. Most examples that have crossed the block since the updated 911’s launch have failed to meet reserve, but three cars finally found buyers this month: a GT3, a Spirit 70, and, perhaps most importantly, the first Carrera T Coupe to sell at auction. Showing just 2,000 miles, the Jet Black Metallic over Black leather example was well optioned with Front Axle Lift, Adaptive Sport Seats, and plenty of additional Race-Tex, bringing its original MSRP to $163,120. It hammered at a final bid of $146,500, a strong result considering previous Carrera T examples with half the mileage had all failed to sell at lower bids.
The 356 market was particularly active in May with 36 cars crossing the block, producing $3,242,161 in dollar volume and a 67% sell-through rate. Leading the way was a truly special 1957 356A 1500 Carrera GT, one of Porsche’s legendary four-cam cars. Developed by Ernst Fuhrmann for Porsche’s racing program before making its way into the 356 Carrera, the Type 547 engine remains one of the most technically significant powerplants in the company’s history. This Aquamarine Blue example stood out not only for its concours-level restoration and exceptional documentation, but also because it was sold with a genuine Type 547/3 four-cam engine originally fitted to a factory RS-60 Werks Prototype Spyder. With only one other Carrera GT Coupe appearing at auction in the U.S. over the past year, opportunities to acquire one are exceedingly rare. It sold for $511,000 all-in.
Another market that caught my attention in May was the Carrera 3.2 911 Speedster market. While most of the 2,104 Speedsters produced left the factory with Turbo-Look bodywork, Porsche built just 161 to 171 narrow-body examples, primarily to satisfy requests from European dealers. Remarkably, two crossed the auction block in the same month after years of seeing none. The first, a 24,000 km Silver Metallic example offered out of France, failed to sell at a final bid of $210,656. It was followed by a Black-on-Black, 36,300-mile example at Cars & Bids’ Velocity Invitational sale that also missed reserve at $166,000. Spoiler alert: a third example crossed the block in June, only to suffer the same fate despite attracting a substantial $550,000 high bid. After going years without seeing a narrow-body Speedster at auction, it’s remarkable that three surfaced in such a short period. Now the question is, how long will it be before another appears?
Overall, May continued what has been an impressive first half of 2026, with strong year-over-year gains in dollar volume, unit volume, and sell-through rate. June should keep the momentum rolling with Mecum’s Tulsa auction and Barrett-Jackson’s Columbus sale joining the usual slate of online auctions. After that, all eyes turn to Monterey Car Week. We’re just one month away from the biggest auction event of the year, and if the market continues at its current pace, August should be another record-breaking month.
