Art market may decelerate: Citi

Singapore

THE art market has grown at a whopping average annual rate of 13 per cent since 2000, with global sales rising from US$3 billion in 2000 to US$16.1 billion in 2014. But will it be able to sustain this performance for another 15 years? A new report released by Citi under its Citi Global Perspective & Solutions (Citi GPS) series suggests it might not.

In the past 15 years, the market has been propelled by two structural factors - the meteoric rise of the Chinese art market, as well as the extraordinary demand for blue-chip art among the wealthy who commonly turn to auction houses to obtain it.

But these factors may not hold up for long. "China's extraordinary period of catch-up growth has largely played out, while the inequality in auction prices may reach some natural limit," Citi GPS reports. "S…