Preliminary figures show that more than 263,000 new boats were sold in 32 early-reporting states in 2017 as the recreational boating industry put even more distance between itself and the Great Recession.
This story by Jack Atzinger originally appeared in Trade Only Today.
Statistical Surveys said today that 263,213 boats were sold in those states, a 3.8 percent increase from 2016. The states represent about 59 percent of the U.S. market.
Florida (up 1.9 percent), Texas (up 5.4 percent), Michigan (up 5.4 percent), Minnesota (up 3.9 percent) and North Carolina (up 8.1 percent), in that order, were the top five states for sales among the 32.
Rounding out the top 15 were California (up 17.7 percent), New York (down 4.3 percent), Georgia (up 6.7 percent), South Carolina (up 2.2 percent), Alabama (down 0.5 percent), Tennessee (up 12.3 percent), Louisiana (up 4.9 percent), New Jersey (up 5.9 percent), Washington (down 1.6 percent) and Pennsylvania (down 5.7 percent).
Ryan Kloppe, Statistical Surveys’ sales director, said the remaining 18 states could add as many as 6,000 boats, which would bring the final total to about 269,000. The industry sold 258,879 boats in all 50 states in 2016, and that marked the first time in eight years that more than 250,000 were sold.
Kloppe said 50-state figures, which will be released in March, probably will show that 2017 sales were up about 4 percent. Industry forecasts were for an increase of 4 to 6 percent.
“I think 2018 is going to mirror 2017,” Kloppe said, noting strength in the financial markets and the economy.
“There is no reason why the industry can’t continue to show growth in 2018,” he said.
In the main powerboat segments 172,885 boats were sold in the 32 early-reporting states, an increase of 4.7 percent from 2016.
Four familiar categories topped sales in those states — personal watercraft (61,503), aluminum pontoon (51,464) and fishing (47,692) boats, and outboard-powered fiberglass boats (51,376). Sales growth in those categories ranged from 4 percent for aluminum fishing boats to 7.2 percent for pontoons.
