Following two years of a down market and declining sales, the world’s two leading auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s today both reported upticks in total projected revenue for 2025.
Neither auction house, which are both privately owned, reveal details of profit.
Sotheby’s finished the year on top, making a projected $7bn in global sales—a 17% increase on last year ($6bn). A stellar November season in New York, during which the house broke the record for most expensive work of Modern art sold at auction, $236.3m for Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914-16), proved a welcome shot in the arm. Its public auction results stand at $5.7bn, a 26% increase on last year.
Meanwhile Christie’s will turnover $6.2bn overall, a 6% boost year-on-year. Of this, public auctions amounted to $4.7bn, up 8% from last year. Emphasising the momentum that has been gained in the market over the past few months, Christie’s report notes that the second half of 2025 marked a 26% in overall sales compared to the same period last year. Sotheby’s saw the same increase in second half sales year-on-year.
Private sales remain robust
Both houses have grown their private sales business in recent years, due, in part, to an uncertain climate that has prompted risk-averse consignors to sell prized work away from public scrutiny. This year's improved auction results have seen private sales at both houses either gently decline or remain stable compared to last year, accounting for 24% of total revenue at Christie’s and 17% at Sotheby’s. Christie’s, despite not claiming as many headline-grabbing auction records as Sotheby’s, states in its report that the top three sales this year were made privately.
Revenue from private sales at both auction houses has grown exponentially since the pandemic, particularly at Christie's. Comparing end-of-year results from 2019 and 2025, Christie’s brought in $700m more from private sales this year than it did to 2019 ($800m vs $1.5bn). Sotheby's meanwhile made $200m more in private sales compared to 2019 ($1bn vs $1.2bn).
Lustre returns to luxury
The growth of luxury has also been a defining trend for auction houses over the past decade, and this year, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw healthy boosts to their sales of handbags, watches and jewellery. While luxury sales took a hit at both auction houses in recent years, turnover for this category is up 22% at Sotheby's, to $2.7bn, and 17% at Christie's, to $795m.
Notably in December, Sotheby’s held its first ever Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week, which made $133.4m from sales of cars, real estate, watches, jewellery and handbags. “These exhibitions and auctions lay the foundation to support future growth in the Middle East,” Sotheby’s report states
Christie's category breakdown of auction sales shows a 6% increase in 20th and 21st century, by far the most valuable, at $2.8bn. The department that saw the greatest increase year-on-year was Old Masters, up 24% to $182m, no doubt boosted by the record-breaking sale of Canaletto's view of Venice for £31.9m in London this July.
Of all the categories at Christie's, only the joint "Asian art/world art" categories saw a decline at auction, of 6%. The auction house's report also notes a 3% decrease in spend from Asia Pacific-based buyers.
"The energy has returned to the saleroom, online, and across the market. We’ve seen renewed confidence worldwide, reflected in these outstanding results. Our selling performance has remained consistently strong throughout the year: a solid first half followed by an even more competitive second half, delivering exceptional, market-leading outcomes for our clients," said Christie's chief executive Bonnie Brennan in a statement.
Sotheby’s, which for the past few years has released its year-end results in January, rather than December, will not reveal its detailed sales totals, including category and regional break downs, until next week, according to a spokesperson for the auction house.
