NASBLA Public Library

Registration & Titling Statistics
Jack Ellis, InfoLink

If you think you're seeing an unusually high number of boats changing hands in your state, it's because they are. Like new boats, demand for pre-owned boats has been off the charts. Last year, over 1.1 million used boats were sold in the U.S. – a roughly 95,000 unit increase over 2020 and a 180,000-unit increase compared to 2019.

Most of this growth can be attributed to more people wanting to escape to the water during the pandemic, but this has been further buoyed by lack of new boat inventory. Many would-be new boat buyers turned to late model pre-owned boats as an alternative to new. This resulted in a huge jump in average pre-owned boat values, just like we're seeing with used cars.

As market conditions begin returning to “normal” and boat manufacturers start fulfilling more of the inventory backlog, we will see pre-owned boats sales return to more normal levels. Meanwhile, you're still going to see a lot of boats changing hands.