For budgets of less than EUR1,000, prints bring greater gains than paintings!

[08/07/2002]

  Over the past six years, prints and multiples have yielded a greater annual return than works on canvas -8% vs. 6.82%. This, however, is only an average and returns vary hugely from one type of product to another.

In the case of paintings, the more expensive the work, the greater the chance of making a profit upon resale. The greatest profits are to be had on paintings purchased for more than EUR100,000-paintings in this category have gained more than 12% in value each year since 1996. But in the case of works bought for less than EUR1,000, expectations of gains tend to be met only with losses. Owners of artworks bought at this kind of price risk seeing the value of their investment shrink by 6.4% each year. We should of course mention that there are few paintings by old masters or famous artists in this price bracket. In short, the return on investment depends on the artist’s reputation: essentially it is the fame of the artist that determines the value of a work of art. Investing in a painting by a little known, or even unknown, artist is far more risky than investing in a work by an artist whose place in the history of art is already secure. Thus, it is those art collectors whose average budget exceeds EUR100,000 that are benefiting most from the rising price of paintings.

This situation makes the prints and lithographs segment of the art market the ideal place for investing sums of less than EUR1,000. Portfolios of prints brought for less than EUR1,000 have accumulated average annual gains of 16.5% since 1996. This is an exceptional rise for artworks in this category and reflects increasingly fierce demand, plus the opening up of the art market to embrace a far broader slice of the public at large. 71% of prints in fact carry a price tag of less than EUR1,000. And with prices at these levels, art enthusiasts can acquire very attractive works by well-known artists without breaking the bank.
But unlike originals, where the gains tend to be greater the higher the price tag, profits are not generally made on prints bought at prices above EUR15,000 – 18,000. This is because, when prices rise above these levels, buyers’ personal preferences and tastes start to come into play and paintings offered to the market at such prices often bear the signature of a famous artist. And when more than EUR100,000 is invested in a print, the risk of losing money is considerable, since the sale of a print tends to generate far less interest than the sale of a original.

Average annual rate of return (1996-2002)

  Paintings Prints > 1 000 000 EUR +12,04% – 100 000 -1 000 000 EUR +12,76% – 10 000 -100 000 EUR +06,05% -05,50% 1 000 -10 000 EUR +03,18% +06,02% < 1 000 EUR -06,40% +16,15%