13/09/2016
Art has been emerging as a new asset class for the well-diversified portfolio. The reported returns are enough to catch anyone's eye: the index of fine art sales, used by art advisors to sell art funds, shows an average annual return of 10% over the past four decades.
With major art fairs taking place across the globe from Chicago to Istanbul to Shanghai, art enthusiasts, collectors and sophisticated investors alike are questioning whether to acquire works of fine art as investments. And as significant appreciation emerges in some corners of the art market, we see growing interest from clients about incorporating art into their investment portfolios.
In short, buy paintings if you like looking at them. You can hope that your children will sell one or more of them later for a gain — but paintings are primarily aesthetic investments, not financial ones.