Luxury Investment Slump: Art, Wine & Whisky Prices Decline in 2024

On Wednesday, global property consultant Knight Frank released its ‘The Wealth Report 2025’.

In a statement, the consultant said that Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII), which tracks the performance of 10 popular investments of passion, revealed that only five out of the ten collectibles managed growth in 2024.

Handbags were the best performing luxury asset class with prices rising 2.8 per cent in 2024, followed by jewellery 2.3 per cent, coins 2.1 per cent, watches 1.7 per cent and classic cars 1.2 per cent.

“The weakest sectors were fine art, wine and whisky. Art was down 18.3 per cent, with the market seeing a total reversal from the double-digit growth of 2023 and a worse performance than during the COVID-19 crisis when values fell 17 per cent,” Knight Frank said.

The next weakest sector was fine wine, down by 9.1 per cent, impacted by rapidly changing consumption patterns.

“Rare whisky, a market weighed down by a rapid growth in stock returning to the secondary market after a decade of strong growth, had its second poor year with values down 9 per cent in 2024, and is now lower by 19.3 per cent from the market’s peak in summer 2022,” the consultant said.

Prices of furniture (important designers) decreased 2.8 per cent while rates of coloured diamonds of 2.2 per cent during the last year.

Knight Frank said that the index fell 3.3 per cent in 2024, reporting a negative growth for the second year in a row, “leaving collectors and investors to navigate a changing landscape where scarcity no longer guarantees returns”.

Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank, said: “Luxury collectibles have delivered for investors over the long term. If you had invested USD 1 million in 2005 and tracked KFLII, your investment would now be worth USD 5.4 million. The same amount invested in the S&P 500 would have been worth USD 5 million by the end of 2024.