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Whisky not
only appears for the first time in the
Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index it
tops it!
The Wealth Report 2019, released
today, reveals that new entrant whisky
has topped the Knight Frank Luxury
Investment Index (KFLII), surging in
value by 40% over the 12 months to Q4
2018.
The Knight Frank Rare Whisky 100 Index,
featured for the first time in the KFLII
and compiled by Rare Whisky 101,
contains 100 bottles of the world’s most
desirable rare Scotch whisky. The index
tracks actual UK auction prices of these
bottles, finding that over the past ten
years values have increased by almost
600%.
The most significant sale of 2018 was a
unique bottle of Macallan 1926, hand
painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon,
that sold for a record-breaking
£1.2million in November. This incredible
rise in values has been partially driven
by the Asian market, as sales of Scotch
whisky to India, China and Singapore
rose by 44%, 35% and 24% respectively in
the first half of 2018 according to the
Scotch Whisky Association, with single
malts totalling almost 30% of total
exports.
The KFLII shows that whisky is followed
by coins (12% annual growth) and wine
and art (9% growth). In terms of Art -
KFLII’s top performing asset class in
2017 - we now track the performance of
works by 10,000 artists using the AMR
All-Art Index to provide a more complete
view of the market.
Record-breaking sales also took place
for a number of the KFLII’s other asset
classes in 2018:
In the classic car market, a 1962
Ferrari 250 GTO was sold for US$48
million – the most expensive car sold at
auction. Another sold privately for a
rumoured US$70 million.
The Marie Antoinette pearl pendant was
sold by Sotheby’s for US$36 million, the
most expensive piece of pearl jewellery
sold at auction.
Christie’s US$833 million spring sale of
objects belonging to the Rockefeller
estate was the highest auction total
ever for a single collection.
The US$90 million sale of David
Hockney’s Portrait of An Artist in
November was a record for a living
artist.
Andrew Shirley, editor of The Wealth
Report and the Knight Frank Luxury
Investment Index, commented: "The
stunning price growth of rare single
malt whiskies shows that the appetite
for new “alternative” asset classes
remains strong among high-net-worth
investors. However, we are seeing growth
soften for some of the other asset
classes in KFLII like classic cars that
had been performing exceptionally
strongly. This is partly down to a
slowdown in activity by speculative
investors and a return to a genuine
collector-driven market. Despite this,
the best examples in each asset class
are still setting records when they come
up for sale."
Andy Simpson, Co-founder Rare Whisky 101
said: "While rare whisky remains a
somewhat fledgling asset class compared
to some other passion investments, the
market for rare and vintage bottles has
witnessed extraordinary growth over the
past ten years, both in terms of the
volume of whisky being traded and the
value of that whisky. The key to rare
whisky’s sustained growth as an asset
class, is the passion buyers worldwide
share for investing, collecting, and
occasionally drinking, some of the best
and rarest Scotch whisky ever made!"
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