Wiley Sharp of Catamaran Central unpacks a stop-start quarter where patient sellers and prepared buyers are finally meeting in the middle.
In his latest quarterly update, Wiley Sharp of Catamaran Central offers a grounded read on where the cruising catamaran market actually sits right now — and it’s more nuanced than the doom-scroll takes circulating online. Activity at his brokerage has picked up in the last quarter, and conversations with peer brokers echo the same theme: the market is uneven, but it’s moving.
“Stop go, stop go,” is how Wiley describes the rhythm of the past year and a half. That inconsistency has become the new normal, and both sides of the deal are adapting.
A Buyer’s Market — With Nuance
Wiley is clear that this is a buyer’s market, but he pushes back on the narrative that there’s “blood in the streets.” Distressed sellers, in his experience, represent less than 10% of transactions. Catamarans remain a luxury good, and most owners aren’t forced sellers — they’re simply owners who have accepted that COVID-era pricing isn’t coming back. The sellers whose boats actually trade are the ones pricing to today’s market rather than to what they paid at the peak.
The Numbers Behind the Story
Wiley compares the most recent quarter to the same period a year earlier. Units sold were flat at 122, and the median age of boats sold held steady at seven years. Where things get interesting is in pricing and — most importantly — time on market.
| Metric | Prior Year | This Year | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Units sold | 122 | 122 | Flat |
| Median age (years) | 7 | 7 | Flat |
| Median asking price | $486,000 | $474,000 | -2.37% |
| Median selling price | $443,000 | $434,000 | -1.81% |
| % of ask | 93.3% | 92.2% | -1.1 pts |
| Avg. days on market | 146 | 221 | +51% |
That 51% jump in average time on market is, in Wiley’s view, the single most telling figure. Sellers are still starting high, then discovering over three to six months that the market won’t support COVID-high valuations. The result is a slow migration of asking prices toward reality — and a real opportunity for buyers who are ready to move on properly priced boats.
| Prior Year | 146 | |||
| This Year | 221 |
Where Catamaran Central Fits
Wiley and his wife Laura founded Catamaran Central in 2021, building on two decades of hands-on catamaran life that took Wiley from Tampa Bay dinghies and college J/24s to jobs as a diesel mechanic, rigger, operations manager, and captain across the Bahamas, St. Vincent, Grenada, and the Virgin Islands. That range shows up in his current brokerage list, which spans Fountaine Pajot, Lagoon, and Privilege in the $675,000 to $1,185,000 range.
Among the current listings, the 2009 Privilege 615 Owner’s Version is a good example of the kind of considered, cruising-focused platform Catamaran Central tends to represent.
The Takeaway
If you’re a buyer, Wiley’s read is straightforward: it’s a good time to get back in, as long as you understand you’re negotiating against realistic sellers, not desperate ones. If you’re a seller, the message is equally direct — price to the market you’re in, not to the market you bought in, and you’ll transact.