Auctioneer Victoire Gineste gestures as she auctions a recently rediscovered drawing by Michelangelo, the artist's first known nude, for 20 million euros (US$21.9 million) at Christie's auction house in Paris on May 18, 2022.
Emmanuel Dunand | Afp | Getty Images
The average spending by high-net-worth millennials in Asia on art and antiques was $59,785 in the first half of 2023, while it was $56,000 for Generation Z, compared to $61,820 and $65,000 overall Year 2022, according to the Kunst Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2023.
“Asia is a key driver of Millennial purchases at Christie's globally,” Christie's said.
At Christie's Hong Kong's 2023 fall auctions, mainland China was the region with the highest sales contribution for millennials by value, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore, a spokesperson told CNBC.
In Asia, collectors from China had the highest average spending in the first half of 2023 at $241,000, followed by Singapore at $38,000 and Taiwan at $31,000 – with Chinese patrons also the largest spenders globally, the report showed .
Leading international auction houses Sotheby's and Phillips have also reported an increase in purchases by young Asian collectors in recent years.
Millennials made up nearly 40% of Christie's shoppers in Asia Pacific and 20% in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East in the first half of 2023, according to the spokesperson. A report from the auction house showed a 65% increase in new Gen Z buyers in 2023.
Millennials accounted for nearly a third of global shoppers and 40% of Asian shoppers at Phillips in 2022, according to its latest annual report.
Sotheby's 2023 report said bidding activity from younger collectors increased to 30% in the first half of 2023 from 6% in 2018. Millennials and Generation X – ages 44 to 59 – are classified as “younger collectors” by the auction house.
While there was “significant activity from millennials across Asia,” “thriving contributions” from Taiwan and South Korea stood out in 2023, according to the Christie's representative highlighted.
Younger buyers have a different view of art and their purchases contrast with the preferences of older generations.
Last year, Millennials spent the most on sculpture, installations, photography and film or video art, while Generation Zers preferred digital art and prints, the report from Art Basel and UBS said.
“Millennial collectors are drawn to figurative work… there is also a demand among young buyers for surrealist landscapes that depict spiritual spaces,” Erin Remington, head of sales and curation at Saatchi Art, an online art gallery and marketplace, told CNBC.
Up to 64% of younger buyers — ages 18 to 36 — think it's important to have emerging artists in their collection, compared to just 43% of older buyers, Artsy, an online art brokerage firm, told CNBC.
For younger collectors, buying from blue-chip artists – those who are well-known in the industry – is not a priority. Only 11% of younger collectors believe it is important to collect top-notch art, compared to 23% of older buyers, Artsy's 2023 Art Collector Insights showed.
In Asia, millennial buyers are collecting both contemporary and classic Asian art, “reflecting a desire to connect with their roots and culture,” the Christie's representative said.
At Christie's 2023 fall auctions in Hong Kong, 40% of new buyers who purchased Chinese ceramics, paintings and artworks were millennials, Christie's told CNBC.
While physical auction numbers have mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels, online art sales remain strong.
The size of the online art market is expected to grow to $17.76 billion by 2030 from $9.72 billion last year, according to a report from Grand View Research.
The number of online art auctions also increased in 2023 as high-net-worth collectors – individuals with at least $1 million in liquid financial assets – became more selective about physical art events and reduced most attendance at live auctions, according to the Art Basel & UBS showed.
In the wake of the pandemic, the art world experienced a “massive shift to digital,” Francis Belin, president of Asia Pacific at Christie's, told CNBC's “Squawk Box Asia.”
In the first half of 2023, 80% of bids in Christie's auctions were made online, compared with a pre-pandemic level of 45% in 2019, Christie's said.
The pandemic has “put digitalization right at the forefront of what we do, which is presenting art and supporting transactions… Many collectors are now very comfortable (with online auctions), bidding up to 40 million Hong Kong dollar (US$5.12). million),” said Belin.
According to the Christie's report, Generation Z collectors often purchase art from online listings and prefer handbags, watches and prints – works of art created by applying ink to engraved wood or stone and pressing it onto paper.
Auction houses are investing more in digital spaces to attract younger buyers who are “more digitally savvy and globally connected,” Christie's said.
The company continues to expand its digital reach through livestream auctions and online bidding on social media platform WeChat. The auction house's live streams reached a record 60 million views in 2023, the representative emphasized.
“We have more and more millennials and younger collectors shopping at Christie's [and] “We're starting to gather … that we've also been able to engage much more with all of our digital innovations,” Belin added.