Deeper Fleet, Firmer Deals, More Sales

Ninety-five catamarans changed hands between July and September — up from 73 in the same quarter last year — against a standing fleet of 358 boats. Sellers who met the market got paid; the rest are still listed.

The third quarter of 2026 produced 95 catamaran sales, 22 more than the same quarter of 2025 and roughly a third of the 292 sales recorded across the trailing twelve months. That is a quarter with real depth to it: enough transactions across enough price bands and enough builders that the patterns below rest on something more than anecdote. The headline numbers are a $410,000 median sold price from 61 confirmed prices, a median sold-to-ask of 92.3%, and a median 124.5 days on market.

Behind the transactions sits a wide shop window. There were 358 active listings at quarter’s end, asking a median $469,000 — about $59,000 above the median boat that actually sold. Forty-five listings were withdrawn or delisted in the period, roughly one for every two that closed. That combination tells you most of what a seller needs to know: the buyers are there, in volume, and they are working through a long shelf.

Market Overview

Supply outweighs completed demand by a comfortable margin. The 95 sales represent about 27% of the 358 boats currently on offer — a quarter’s worth of turnover against the standing fleet. For a cruising multihull market that is a functioning, liquid environment, but it is not one where a boat sells itself on the strength of a photograph.

The active fleet is also skewed heavier than the sold fleet. Sixty of the 358 live listings carry a seven-figure ask, and 101 sit above $750,000. Among the 61 confirmed sold prices, eight were $1M or more and fifteen were above $750,000. The top of the market transacts — it simply represents a smaller slice of closings than it does of inventory, which is the normal shape of a market with a broad mid-section.

Fourteen of the 95 sales were for-sale-by-owner. Owner-marketed boats are a persistent, non-trivial part of this market rather than a curiosity, and buyers hunting value should keep them in the search.

Forty-five boats left the market without selling — roughly one withdrawal for every two closings. Price discipline is the difference between those two outcomes.

Pricing

Confirmed sold prices ran from $32,500 to $2,750,000, with a median of $410,000 and an average of $546,289. The gap between median and average is the signature of a long right tail: a handful of large, late-model or custom boats pull the mean up by more than $130,000 while the typical transaction sits comfortably in the mid-$400s and below.

The median boat closed at 92.3% of its asking price. Across 61 priced sales that is a meaningful central reading — the negotiating gap on a typical deal was high single digits, not a fire sale and not a full-ask market. It is a median, not a tariff: individual outcomes varied widely with condition, equipment, charter history and how realistically the boat was priced on day one.

Sold bands count confirmed-price transactions only. Each band holds fewer than 20 sales, so counts are shown rather than rates.

Read the two columns side by side and the structural point is clear. Twenty-six of the 61 priced sales landed under $350,000, while 113 of the 358 active boats are asking in that territory. In the $350k–$750k corridor, 144 boats are listed against 20 priced closings. The inventory is thickest exactly where the competition for a buyer’s attention is hardest.

Market Velocity

Half of this quarter’s sales closed within 124.5 days on market; the average was 199 days. That average is slightly slower than the 193-day average recorded in the same quarter a year ago across 73 sales, and slower than the 156-day average over the trailing twelve months and 292 sales. The gap between the 124.5-day median and the 199-day average is the tail at work: a modest group of long-listed boats drags the mean well past the midpoint.

Twenty-five of the 95 sales closed inside 90 days; 57 closed inside 180. At the other end, 14 boats took more than a year. The unsold side of the ledger reinforces the point: the median active listing has now been on the market 221 days — nearly a hundred days past the median at which this quarter’s sales closed. Boats that are going to sell on their original positioning have largely done so by then.

The median unsold listing has been live for 221 days. The median sale closed at 124.5. Time is the loudest signal a listing sends.

Size & Builders

The median boat sold measured 44 feet; the median boat listed measures 45. Sixty-six of the 95 sales — 69% — fell between 38 and 49 feet, with the 41–44ft band the single largest at 25 boats and the 38–40ft band close behind at 22. The 50–59ft class held up well with 22 sales. The extremes stayed thin: two boats under 38 feet and five at 60 feet or more.

By builder, this was Leopard’s quarter. Twenty-nine of the 95 sales wore the Leopard badge, with Lagoon next at 21 — together 50 boats, or 53% of all transactions. Bali recorded 8 and Fountaine Pajot 7. Below that the field fragments quickly: Custom, Manta, Nautitech, Prout, Seawind and Shuttleworth each registered two sales. The ex-charter production fleet remains the liquid core of this market, and buyers in the 40–50ft bracket have genuine choice between near-substitutes — which is precisely why presentation and pricing decide who sells first.