Image:The artwork “Imagineered Continuum: Chain Self History Irretrievably” (2011) by American artist Stephen G. Rhodes is shown at the preview of the international art show Art 42 Basel, in Basel, Switzerland. Art 42 Basel featured more than 300 leading art galleries from all continents. AP Photo/Keystone, Georgios Kefalas
Demand for art, watches, rare wines, vintage cars and other offbeat investments that set pulses racing expanded in 2010 as wealth levels of the world’s super-rich rebounded from the financial crisis, a report said.
“The value of many categories of investments of passion rose and HNWIs (high net-worth individuals) made acquisitions for the aesthetic and emotional appeal and their potential to return value,” Capgemini and Merrill Lynch said in the World Wealth Report 2011 published on Wednesday.
Growing wealth in emerging economies, especially in Asia — which surpassed Europe in millionaires and wealth last year — helped spur a revival in markets for these aptly named investments, the authors of the report said.
In times of low interest rates and volatile stock markets, alternative investments allow investors to diversify by buying assets with little correlation to global financial markets, thus offering potential shelter from market turbulence.
Individual tastes tend to determine whether a millionaire prefers investing in cars, watches or wine, while artworks are more likely to be acquired for their potential to gain value, the authors wrote.
“Newly wealthy Chinese buyers are widely reported to be keen bidders and buyers at galleries and auction houses, especially to acquire the fast-diminishing supply of works from native artists,” the authors of the report said.
Art aficionados seemed willing to pay high prices at Art Basel, the world’s top fair for modern and contemporary art, last week, suggesting the art market is returning to pre-crisis peaks. Via:[ArtDaily]
Watch our video reports from Art Basel 42: PARTOne PARTtwo
