As the Pre-owned private jet market continues its hive of activity in 2018, there is a race for people in the USA to take advantage of the new tax benefits that Trump enacted when he took office. In order to take advantage of those benefits, buyers have to purchase an aircraft and put it into active service before December 31 2018. As a result, we are seeing a lot of US buyers rushing to try and close their aircraft transaction before the end of the year. These buyers, on the whole, are focusing more on the tax benefit than the aircraft itself, and are therefore less sensitive to pricing and more sensitive to timing. The fourth quarter of any year, but particularly this year, sees an increase in buyers which means an increase in buyer competition over the few aircraft on the market.
If you do not have an overly compelling reason to buy your jet in the fourth quarter (such as financial reasons or tax deadlines), we recommend waiting until the first quarter of the new year where there are far fewer buyers, and those that are buying will be more sensitive to pricing of the asset as opposed to timing of the deal. There will still be good aircraft on the market, but you will not have to compete with a slew of buyers who will be willing to pay more to reach a calendar goal.
Articles are written from real world experience by Colibri Aircraft’s individuals. If you have any questions or comments about the topic of this blog, please feel free to contact us at enquiries@colibriaircraft.com
