Final results

Christie's succeeds in winning over Millennials in a difficult year for auctions

In the second half of the year, improvement generating moderate optimism for 2025, eyes on Saudi Arabia where it obtained a business licence

by Maria Adelaide Marchesoni

21 December 2024

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Key points

Results in the Americas
Europe - Middle East - Africa (EMEA) results

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Christie's closed a "challenging" year as described by CEO Guillaume Cerutti, in a difficult economic environment and with the art market shrinking: the auction house lost in all areas but recovered in the second half of the year and attracted new collectors. Thus, the auction house is looking forward to 2025 and beyond, thanks to the growing number of Millennials buying art. In the Americas 26% of buyers and bidders are Millennials or younger, while in the Asia-Pacific region this generation accounts for 44% of the clientele. In summary, Christie's reported stronger auction sales in 2024, particularly in the second half of the year, along with decidedly positive results forprivate rooms.

But here are the results in detail. Global sales amounted to $5.7 billion, with auction awards of $4.2 billion (down from $5.03 billion in 2023), and private sales grew to $1.5 billion (compared to $1.2 billion in 2023) by +41%, contributing 27% to global sales.

Performance indicators such as the overall sales rate (sell-through rate) was 86 per cent, the Index of Hammer price to Low Estimate was 112 per cent, and bidders per lot was 3.7 per cent. All indicators showed growth over the previous year, 'highlighting,' as the CEO pointed out, 'that our strategy and focus has been successful with sellers and buyers'. In addition, the CEO recalled that the most valuable work of the year, L'empire des lumières by René Magritte, was sold for $121.2 million, from the collection of Mica Ertegun: the only lot sold for over $100 million globally. Christie's also beat the year's most precious jewel, "The Eden Rose", a 10.20 carat pink diamond, which fetched $13.4 million in New York in June.

Results in the Americas

The Americas contributed 42% to global auction sales, with an 18% increase in new buyers for 20th/21st century art. 26% of buyers and bidders in the Americas are Millennials or younger. In the Americas in the second half of the year, in New York, the most expensive and record-breaking work for Surrealist art sold for a week in November with a turnover of $ 689 million: 9 lots sold above the $10m mark, including over Magritte, Ed Ruscha's "Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half" ($68.3m) and Jean-Michel Basquia's "Untitled" ($23m); 18 artist records set. Following the sale of the Lear, de la Cruz and Elton John Collections in the first half of the year, the auction house offered in the second half of the year the collection "MICA: The Collection of Mica Ertegun" which totalled $194m in four 100% sold appointments and with other sales in progress; "The Rockefeller Mitchells: Science for the Benefit of Humanity" with two masterpieces "City Landscape" and "Untitled" by Joan Mitchell, totalled $26.5m.

In Asian Art Week, the week dedicated to Asian art in September, sales totalled $29.7m with several auction records and together with the success of the March sales series, Christie's New York confirmed its leadership in the category.

After the $13.3 million sale of 'The Eden Rose' in June, December's luxury sales in New York were led by an auction of Magnificent Jewels that sold for 97% for a total of $49.2 million.

Results in Europe - Middle East - Africa (Emea)

Buyers from the Emea region contributed 32% to global auction sales. 25% of the area's buyers and bidders were Millennials or younger. In London, the number of bidders and buyers grew by 15% and new buyers increased by 29% due to the success of private collection sales: in March, René Magritte's "L'ami intime" (The Intimate Friend) sold for £33.7m, the sixth highest-value auction lot sold this year; Titian's youthful masterpiece, "Resting during the Flight into Egypt", changed hands in July for a record £17.6m, in one of the largest sales of its kind in London in over a decade; in October, Lucian Freud's "Ria, Naked Portrait" led Frieze's week's auctions in the 20/21st Century category, selling for £11.8m and leading the evening session which totalled £82m, up 83% on the previous year; the sale of three dinosaur fossils dating from 157-145 million years ago concluded Classic Week in December with a total of £12.4m.

Paris continued to be a growth market, with auction sales reaching €384m (+24% year-on-year), consolidating Christie's leadership in France. The Barbier Mueller Collection, at €73m, was Christie's second best-selling collection in 2024 and set a new world record for the category. Sales of 40 other collections, including Renault, Danute&Alain Mallart, Man Ray-Marion Meyer, Lady Harrison and Antoine and Simone Veil, contributed to an average sale price of €70,000 during the year, in line with 2022. Christie's sold 7 of the top 10 works in France this year; almost 60 works were acquired by museums

Luxury

The Geneva luxury sales in November opened with Zinedine Zidane as auctioneer for lot 1 of a rare watch sale that raised 843,000 Swiss francs for the European Leukodystrophy Association (ELA). A sensational Colombian emerald brooch, a gift from the Aga Khan to his then-wife Nina Dyer, originally sold at Christie's in Geneva in 1969, fetched 7.8 million Swiss francs.

Buyers from the Middle East increased by 14% year-on-year and Christie's Middle East hosted a mid-career retrospective in London for leading Saudi Arabian contemporary artist Ahmed Mater and in September obtained a commercial licence for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 2025 marks Christie's 20th anniversary in the Middle East.

Asia-Pacific (Apac) results

Apac buyers contributed 26% of global auction sales. Following the opening of The Henderson, Christie's Asia achieved its highest number of sales since 2021, driven by a growing number of new and younger collectors (44% of buyers/offerors are millennials or younger). Christie's Asia's autumn sales totalled HK$3.28 billion, almost 90% sold per lot with almost 40% of lots sold above the highest estimates; Mainland China continued to be the second largest value contributing region after Hong Kong and there was a 62% increase in value contribution from Southeast Asia, led by Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, with a 55% increase in new buyers; luxury sales in Hong Kong attracted global collectors with a 74% increase in new buyers.

Christie's Asia posted a significant result with 4 of the 7 best-selling Western masterpieces selling for more than $30m in Asian auction history, including Vincent van Gogh's "Les canots amarrés" ($250.6m Hong Kong) and Claude Monet's "Nymphéas" ($233.4m Hong Kong) sold in 2024. Christie's continued to offer prestigious private collections of Asian art, ranging from Chinese ceramics (The Ten Perfections: Qing Imperial Ceramics from the Wang Xing Lou Collection and The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale) to archaic jades (Cosmic Essence: Archaic Jades from the Lantien Shanfang Collection) to classical Chinese furniture (Eternal Ming: Treasure from the MQJ collection) - all of which sold at 100%. 42% of global luxury spending comes from Apac customers.