Investing in Luxury Goods: What the 2026 Luxury Investment Index Shows
24 December 2018, updated 8 October 2026
In 2025 the best-performing asset in the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index was Impressionist art, up 13.6 per cent, followed by modern art at 7.1 per cent, post-war art at 5.2 per cent and watches at 5.1 per cent. The worst was whisky, down 10.9 per cent, with prints down 6.6 per cent and contemporary art down 6.0 per cent. The index as a whole, a weighted average of its assets, closed 2025 down 0.4 per cent after two years of broad losses.
The figures are those Knight Frank published in The Wealth Report 2026 in April 2026, with data to the end of 2025. This page is not investment advice, and past performance says nothing about future returns.
Which luxury assets performed best over one, five and ten years?
The answer depends on the period: art led over one year, cars over five years and whisky over ten.
| Asset | 12 months | 5 years | 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luxury Investment Index (all assets) | −0.4% | +2.2% | +38.6% |
| Art: Impressionist | +13.6% | −8.5% | 0.0% |
| Art: modern | +7.1% | −13.0% | −9.3% |
| Art: post-war | +5.2% | −4.7% | −0.2% |
| Watches | +5.1% | +9.0% | n/a |
| Art: top 100 artists | +3.6% | −13.8% | −8.1% |
| Art: European Old Masters | +1.7% | −2.9% | +2.2% |
| Handbags: Hermès Birkin | −0.2% | n/a | n/a |
| Colour diamonds | −1.0% | +4.6% | +3.1% |
| Wine: Liv-ex Italy 100 | −1.7% | +7.0% | +60.8% |
| Wine: Liv-ex 100 | −2.5% | +0.2% | +34.1% |
| Cars | −3.7% | +17.4% | +31.3% |
| Wine: Liv-ex Burgundy 100 | −4.8% | +12.4% | +105.8% |
| Art: contemporary | −6.0% | −17.8% | −0.3% |
| Prints | −6.6% | −12.9% | n/a |
| Whisky | −10.9% | −19.6% | +111.9% |
Five of the six art segments rose in 2025, yet all six are down over five years. Over one and five years more assets fell than rose; over ten years seven of the twelve assets with a figure are higher, and whisky and Burgundy have more than doubled. For anyone who buys to hold rather than to sell on quickly, a distinction this article drew in 2018, the ten-year column is the relevant one.
Why do the ten-year figures differ from earlier editions?
The 2026 index is not a continuation of the earlier series, so its ten-year figures cannot be compared directly with older ones. For 2025 Knight Frank split art into six segments and wine into three, and jewellery, coins and furniture no longer appear. The 2025 edition, with data to the end of 2024, still showed ten-year gains of 33.5 per cent for jewellery, 47.5 per cent for coins and 140.9 per cent for furniture, plus 125.1 per cent for watches and 85.5 per cent for handbags, which the 2026 edition no longer shows. It put the whole index 72.6 per cent higher over ten years, against 38.6 per cent now, but the two numbers describe different baskets over different windows.
Do luxury assets beat the stock market?
In the twenty years to the end of 2024 the index did slightly better than the S&P 500, but the result depends on the period. In its 2025 edition Knight Frank calculated that US$1 million invested in 2005 and tracking the index would have been worth US$5.4 million at the end of 2024, against US$5.0 million in the S&P 500. That comparison ends after two weak years: luxury assets recorded their strongest gains since 2013 between 2020 and early 2022, then fell broadly in 2023 and 2024.
What happened to watch prices on the secondary market?
Watches were the only asset outside art to rise in 2025, up 5.1 per cent in the Knight Frank index. Knight Frank dates the turn in the secondary market to May 2025; over the year the Rolex Market Index rose 4.6 per cent and the Patek Philippe Market Index 12.1 per cent, driven largely by the Aquanaut and the Nautilus, while most other brands drifted lower. Bain & Company and Altagamma reported in November 2025 that tariffs and pricing pressure are feeding the resale market for watches.
On the secondary market the paperwork matters more than the discount: when we source a watch, every piece is checked for provenance, service history and authenticity before a number is discussed. The export side of the market is covered in The Swiss Watch Market Has Turned.
What happened to Hermès Birkin and Kelly prices?
Hermès Birkin and Kelly bags held their prices in 2025 without adding to them, at minus 0.2 per cent in the Knight Frank index. Demand is turning towards worn “beater bags”, the most active segment now sits between US$6,000 and US$9,000 according to the asset manager LUXUS, and immaculate collector examples above US$50,000 are taking longer to sell. At the top, the prototype made for Jane Birkin sold for US$10.1 million at Sotheby's in Paris in July 2025, the highest price ever paid for a handbag. The bag's history is told in The Hermès Birkin Bag.
How did classic cars, wine and whisky perform?
Classic cars, measured by the HAGI Top 50 index, fell 3.7 per cent in 2025 after a gain of 1.2 per cent in 2024, yet they remain the strongest asset over five years. Individual cars still fetched headline prices: a Ferrari F50 sold for US$9.2 million at Monterey in August 2025, and a Ferrari 250 GTO for US$38.5 million at a Mecum auction on 17 January 2026.
The Liv-ex 100 fine wine index lost 2.5 per cent in 2025 and is more than 24.7 per cent below its 2022 peak; of the three wine indices, Italy held up best. Whisky had the hardest year of any asset, down 10.9 per cent after a fall of 9.0 per cent in 2024, and is down 19.6 per cent over five years while still up 111.9 per cent over ten.
What the index does not tell an owner
An index records how prices moved on average; an owner's result also depends on buying costs, selling time and condition, and at auction the buying cost is explicit. For sales in New York, with the same rates in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Sotheby's has charged buyers since 13 February 2026 a premium of 28 per cent on the hammer price up to and including US$2 million, 22 per cent between US$2 million and US$8 million and 15 per cent above, before local taxes; in Switzerland the 28 per cent band runs to CHF 1.6 million. A piece knocked down at US$100,000 therefore costs US$128,000 before tax, and the next hammer price has to be at least 28 per cent higher before the buyer is back where they started.
Selling takes time, and haste has a price: a quick sale is not always a good sale. Condition and completeness, down to a watch's original box and papers, have to be reflected in the price. Counterfeits are the risk no index records: a fake bought as genuine is a total loss, and the seller is usually long gone. When we source a piece, expert opinion, certification and insured transport are part of the mandate, not an extra.
Scarcity is the thesis, not a guarantee
This page started in December 2018 from a simple idea: the most prestigious houses keep supply short, and, as the original article put it, “I want what I can't have” is one of the oldest truths about the human mindset. For the pieces our clients ask about, the waiting list is still how the maison allocates scarcity. The index shows where the idea stops: scarcity did not keep the index from falling in 2023 and 2024, or from ending 2025 slightly lower. How to tell a store of value from a passing hype is the subject of our essay Luxury as an Asset Class; this page stays with the numbers.
Index data describes a market, not a particular piece. Finding or quietly selling a specific watch, bag or stone is the work of our luxury sourcing; classic cars go through our automobile service, and the car market is covered in Investing in Cars. And unlike most investments, a luxury piece can be enjoyed while it is held.
Straight answers.
Which luxury assets performed best over one, five and ten years?
In the 2026 edition of the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, with data to the end of 2025, Impressionist art led over one year with a gain of 13.6 per cent, cars over five years with 17.4 per cent and whisky over ten years with 111.9 per cent. The index as a whole was down 0.4 per cent over one year, up 2.2 per cent over five and up 38.6 per cent over ten.
Do luxury assets beat the stock market?
Over the twenty years to the end of 2024 they did so only narrowly. In its 2025 edition Knight Frank calculated that US$1 million invested in 2005 and tracking its luxury index would have been worth US$5.4 million at the end of 2024, against US$5.0 million in the S&P 500. The result depends heavily on the period: after strong gains between 2020 and early 2022 the index fell in 2023 and 2024, and in 2025 its annual decline narrowed from 5.3 per cent in the first quarter to 0.4 per cent in the fourth.
Are luxury watches a good investment?
Watches were the only asset outside art to rise in 2025, up 5.1 per cent in the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, after a turn in the secondary market that began in May 2025. The gains were concentrated: the Patek Philippe Market Index rose 12.1 per cent and the Rolex Market Index 4.6 per cent, while most other brands drifted lower. None of this is a forecast for any individual watch.
Is a Hermès Birkin still a good investment?
In 2025 Birkin and Kelly bags held their value without adding to it, with a change of minus 0.2 per cent in the Knight Frank index. Demand shifted towards worn bags, the most active segment sat between US$6,000 and US$9,000, and immaculate collector pieces above US$50,000 took longer to sell. The record was set by the original Birkin made for Jane Birkin, sold for US$10.1 million at Sotheby's in Paris in July 2025.
What did classic cars, wine and whisky return?
In 2025 classic cars, measured by the HAGI Top 50 index, fell 3.7 per cent, the Liv-ex 100 fine wine index 2.5 per cent and whisky 10.9 per cent. Over ten years cars are up 31.3 per cent, the Liv-ex 100 34.1 per cent, Burgundy 105.8 per cent and whisky 111.9 per cent, according to Knight Frank's Wealth Report 2026.
What does it cost to buy a luxury asset at auction?
For sales in New York, with the same rates in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Sotheby's has charged since 13 February 2026 a buyer's premium of 28 per cent on the hammer price up to and including US$2 million, 22 per cent on the portion between US$2 million and US$8 million and 15 per cent above that, before local taxes. In Switzerland the 28 per cent band runs to CHF 1.6 million. A piece knocked down at US$100,000 therefore costs the buyer US$128,000 before tax.
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