Mid-Year Market Check-In: Single-Owner Sales Drive Growth

News / Fairs and Auctions Lewis Collection Tops £296m, Becoming Europe’s Most Valuable Single-Owner Sale Shanyu Zhong

Thanks in part to the sales of several exceptional single-owner collections, the auction market grew during the first half of 2026, according to a new report by art market research and analysis firm ArtTactic. The top three high-end auction houses—Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips—brought in a total of $6.77 billion USD, constituting the best first-half results since 2022.

The figures, which cover sales in art, design and luxury collectibles, show a nearly 70 percent improvement compared with 2025’s half-year results. The art category accounted for 77 percent of overall sales, growing 83 percent year-on-year, and continuing a welcome recovery trajectory after a prolonged post-Covid-19-pandemic slump. 

Sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s increased 71 percent year-on-year, although Christie’s’ $3.4 billion USD haul outstripped Sotheby’s’ $2.8 billion USD. Third-place auction house Phillips lagged behind with more modest takings of $505.4 million USD.

While the year-on-year growth stats recorded by ArtTactic are impressive, it should be noted that the basis for comparison was a weak first half in 2025, and it remains to be seen whether the market trend will continue into the higher-stakes second half of the year. 

The rise of luxury collectibles

Still, the results show encouraging signs that the art market’s base of new and emerging collectors is broadening. ArtTactic’s chief executive and founder, Anders Petterson, who authored the report, pointed to a 25.4 percent growth in luxury categories, suggesting that auction houses leaning in this direction could be hoping to see a ripple effect on their art sales. 

“I think these trends signal that the art and luxury collectibles are more and more entwined from a consumer perspective,” Petterson told Ocula. “Auction houses are clearly using these categories to reach beyond the traditional art buyers and these sales allow them to cultivate cross-collecting opportunities.” 

Illustrating this was Phillips’ highest-grossing sale: a $96.3 million USD watch auction in May. But it was memorabilia sales that emerged as the strongest-performing luxury category across the market, almost quadrupling in value to $96.1 million USD, and more than doubling the category’s overall market share to 1.4 percent.

A K-Shaped Recovery

At the end of last year, amid strong trophy results and more activity around lower-priced lots, market-watchers described the emerging recovery trajectory as taking a “K shape”, leaving the middle segment of the market—artists who are more expensive than those at the beginning of their career, but not yet canonised—stagnating. 

While Petterson conceded that the growth is still being led by the $5 million USD-plus market, he pointed to a sales value increase in the more modestly priced day sales, and a 22 percent increase in online-only sales, as a signal of middle-market resilience.

Although encouraging, online sales growth was driven by more material coming up for sale rather than prices achieved, as the average sale price contracted slightly by 1.4 percent year on year. Others, therefore, remain measured about what exactly can be read from the positive day sale results.

“I don’t think we can declare a full recovery just yet,” art advisor and host of the ArtTactic Podcast Adam Green told Ocula. “The strong results were largely concentrated among established artists, while many of the younger artists who appeared at auction over the past several years were noticeably absent. 

“With collectors becoming increasingly selective, there is still a real question about how many of these younger artists would perform in an auction setting today.” 

The mid-year check-in provides a barometer of market health, yet the biggest sales and the highest stakes usually unfold during the evening sales at the tail end of the year. The results can be heavily dependent on both the quality of the material and the mood of the collecting audience.

“Collectors are still eager to acquire, but the FOMO has faded,” Green said. “I am advising clients to be more disciplined and selective about quality and pricing, while still being prepared to move decisively when the right work comes along.”