That is the buyer's perspective. When one looks at the seller's perspective of having $130k in a plane 'the market' says will move at $70k, then the seller views the market as under valued and takes the plane off the market or holds out for their price. What has happened in the recent years where buyers would only buy at what desperate people would accept is that they also created a market where mostly junk is for sale since the guys with nice planes have used their extra value and spent the bare minimum dollar they could while they did so, if you're only going to get $70k for it, might as well make it worth $70k. Or even worse, they leave the plane sit.
Hey Henning,
You're on to something.
Life was good right up until the market crash of 08. Lots of planes were north of 200k, and even run-out 172s generated bidding wars.
Lots of people had lots of money tied up in lots of airplanes. And not just the airplanes themselves, but tens of AMUs worth of glittery new avionics as well. Some seriously cherry birds were out there.
When the crash hit, those who were cash poor or overextended had to bail out and took some serious losses. Those on the sidelines with cash snapped up some incredible bargains. TR182RGs, which had sold for 225k the year before were fire sale-ed at $115-120k. For the most part, those people have held on to their bargains. When they sell, and it is a trickle, they sell quickly, and by word of mouth.
Those who put a lot of money in their birds, but had the money to hang on to them, kept them. Some people could no longer afford to fly (or for whatever reason, like a medical issue, couldn't), and refused to sell at the bargain basement prices. So they pushed their airplanes to the back of the hangar and padlocked the door.
What's left, and what you seen on TAP, Controller, etc, is the "churn". Either seriously outdated, cosmetically unappealing or in need of mechanical work. Some are recoverable, but only at the right price and if you happen to be an A&P with some spare time.
There are also some clean birds, but unrealistic owners asking 2006 prices.
In either case, those airplanes languish. The clock ticks, and rubber degrades, metal corrodes, and every day that passes makes the airplane that much harder to sell.
So Henning is right. The crash created unrealistic expectations that you are going to get a cherry 182, with a full Garmin glass (what? Just a 530? how pedestrian!), new paint and full AirMod interior for $65k, when in fact, that same bird in 2005 would have commanded $250k at least.
The problem that this has created is that the residual value of an airframe is so low, that there is zero incentive to upgrade aircraft. You'll never get your money out of the paint/interior/engine, let alone new avionics (which, oddly, everyone demands, but no one wants to pay for). As a result, the crappy gets crappier and the nice aircraft become rare.
You pays your dollar, you takes your choice.
Richman
David
