Our research reveals that, bar Bitcoin, Banksy prints posted the highest one-year return and also the best performance over the period of a decade. The average annual sold price of Banksy prints was £64,794 in June 2021, a 115% increase on the average price a year earlier.
Since 2011 – when collectors could pick up a Banksy print for just £9,024 on average – the price in June 2021 rocketed 618%. This suggests that early investors in the street-art market could now make large profits with their prints.
The pandemic caused a temporary blip in the Banksy market, when art galleries and auction houses were closed during the first lockdown. Prices fell in April and May 2020, but they have picked up since.
“Art has recovered strongly, and the market has made up all the ground it lost last year during the pandemic. Tastes have got wider – probably due to people being at home more and staring at their walls! – and there is more demand for street art. People want to feel a bit jollier,” says Andrew Shirley, editor of the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, which analyses assets like art, whisky and watches.
“It’s perhaps too early to compare Banksy to Monet, but he is definitely a blue-chip artist. His reputation is certainly established.”
The asset with the highest increase from June 2020 to June 2021, and over the past decade, will come as little surprise to investors. Bitcoin had a fantastic year, with a 283% rise. A decade ago, one Bitcoin was worth $13. As of June 2021, buying one unit will set you back $35,026.
The cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise has been fuelled by the interests of tech companies and investors. Many investors piled into the asset when stock markets sharply dropped in spring 2020. However, the value of Bitcoin is notoriously volatile – in April 2021 the price was as high as $63,000.
What about gold? The yellow metal also performed well last spring as investors fled the stock market downturn and sought a safe haven. However, by the summer of 2020, as lockdown measures eased, the price started to drop back. From June 2020 to June 2021, gold was actually down 3%. As of June 2021, over 10 years it was up 18%.
The FTSE 100 has posted the same 10-year return as gold (18%). As of June 2021, over a 12 month period, it had risen 14%.
However, the Dow Jones delivered much bigger returns. Investors in the US market enjoyed a 34% annual return, as of June 2021, and a 178% 10-year return.
It’s worth pointing out that stock markets do pay an income in the form of dividends. So, the figures only show the growth in the markets, but investors would have received dividends too. In contrast, assets like art and gold do not pay an income.
As of June 2021, the only assets that performed better than the Dow Jones over the past 10 years were Banksy prints, Bitcoin and whisky.
