JETNET: Small and Medium Jets Drive Preowned Market Pullback as Large-Jet Value Holds Flat

JETNET's November JIQ Market Barometer, covering trailing 12-month data through October, shows transaction value for small and medium business jets each down about 11% from the prior year. Large jet transaction value is close to flat.

The report cites 2,668 pre-owned business jet transactions on a trailing 12-month basis through October, with a combined value of $18.59 billion. Approximately 1,728 aircraft were available for sale in a typical month during the period. Average asking prices were $3.54 million for small jets, $5.01 million for medium jets and $15.03 million for large jets.

JETNET attributes the small and medium declines to fewer transactions, which have not affected pricing: small jet asking prices are holding, roughly matching last year's level even as deal volume has thinned. Large jet asking prices are still easing from the pandemic-era run-up to $15.03 million, and higher volume may be offsetting softer prices and keeping the aggregate dollar figure steady.

Inventory remains relatively constrained at 6.6% of the fleet, with the shortage concentrated almost entirely in older aircraft while newer aircraft stay scarce. Average days on market are roughly 93 across the whole fleet: aircraft aged 0 to 5 years sell in about 50 days, while those 16 years and older take more than 100. About 74% of listed aircraft are now 16 years old or older.

The split between falling transaction value and steady small-jet asking prices points to a market where sellers are not cutting list prices but buyers are transacting less often. Value declines in that setting come from thinner deal flow, not from a visible repricing, which is a different kind of softness from the large-cabin segment, where asking prices are still easing from their pandemic-era peak.

When three-quarters of listed aircraft are 16 years old or older and those aircraft sit more than 100 days, while younger aircraft clear in about 50, the market is effectively sorting by age. Pricing discipline, maintenance status and records quality carry more weight in that structure, because the older listings that make up most of the inventory are the ones taking longest to sell.

Whether the aging inventory is driving the value decline in smaller cabins, or the decline is driving the aging inventory, is left open by the report. Later JIQ releases showing small-jet asking prices moving, or days on market for older aircraft shifting, would be the clearest sign of which direction the pressure runs.