Strong demand and price increases for used equipment in Europe according to Ritchie Bros. Q4 2021 Market Trends Report

By MEq March 2, 2022 16:27

Strong activity in the European construction industry and equipment supply chain disruptions have continued to push demand for machinery and pricing up. The Q4 2021 Market Trends Report – European Edition, a free report from Ritchie Bros. Asset Solutions, dives deeper into supply and demand, pricing, aging trends, and more, using comprehensive transactional data from Ritchie Bros. auctions and marketplaces and data from popular equipment listing website, Mascus.

In 2021, European construction projects continued to accelerate, putting greater strain on the market as the need for equipment skyrockets. “The market continues to function, but the supply of materials needed for production is lagging behind. Long delivery times on new equipment makes the used equipment market much more appealing for buyers across Europe and beyond,” said Johan Lustig, Product Manager Valuation Services, for the company.

Ritchie Bros. ability to drive buyer demand in this ‘seller’s market’ continued to be visible across Ritchie Bros. auctions and online marketplace Marketplace-E in the form of increased buyer participation and high price realization. Equipment listing website Mascus was equally favorable for sellers, with large increases in buyer inquiries across the board – from small to large equipment categories. All-terrain cranes, for example, showed an uptick of 32% of direct calls to sellers on Mascus compared to the same period in 2020.

Lustig added, “Analyzing Mascus listings, we see a decrease in equipment stock in our clients’ yards, while the average age of used equipment for sale is rising. The same trend is occurring with auction lots where both the age of the machines and the prices are increasing.” The jump in sale prices has been observed for almost all types of machines, such as backhoe loaders which saw a massive 44% jump in median pricing.

The Q4 2021 European Market Trends Report provides a review of the median prices for construction equipment, including articulated dump trucks, backhoe loaders, midi and mobile excavators, crawler tractors, and all-terrain cranes.