This ‘Luxury Investment’ Trounced Stocks Over the Past Decade

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If investing in collectible Lego toys seems like too lowbrow of a passion for you, consider classic cars instead.

In 2015, this “asset class” increased in value by 17 percent, making classic cars the best performer among 10 tracked by the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index — which also describes such collectibles as “investments of passion.”

The latest index was recently released as part of the 10th annual Wealth Report from Knight Frank, an international property consulting firm based in London.

Seven of those 10 luxury investments increased in value last year:

  • Classic cars: 17 percent increase
  • Coins: 13 percent
  • Watches: 5 percent
  • Wine: 5 percent
  • Art: 4 percent
  • Jewelry: 4 percent
  • Stamps: 2 percent

Chinese ceramics and colored diamonds stayed flat in 2015, seeing no change in value.

One of the 10 luxury investments decreased in value: Furniture fell by 6 percent. (Yes, furniture.)

Despite not measuring up to classic cars last year, however, several asset classes managed to set records for individual pieces. For example:

  • Paul Gauguin’s painting “When Will You Marry?” became the most expensive piece of art ever sold when a museum in Qatar purchased it at auction for $300 million.
  • A rare vivid blue diamond known as the Blue Moon became the most expensive gem or piece of jewelry ever sold when a Hong Kong-based billionaire purchased it at auction for $48.4 million.
  • A Marc Newson Lockheed Lounge sofa set a new high record for a designer when it was purchased at auction for $3.7 million.

As for cars, eight of the 25 cars that have ever sold for more than $10 million at auction were auctioned off last year. As a result, new high records were set for manufacturers McLaren ($13.75 million), Jaguar ($13.2 million) and Porsche ($10.1 million).

Classic cars stood out as the top investment when the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index ran numbers for the past decade. They have increased in value by a whopping 490 percent over the past 10 years.

None of the other nine asset classes increased by even half that. Wine came closest, increasing by 241 percent for the decade, and was closely followed by coins and art.

What’s your take on the performance of these so-called luxury investments? Share your thoughts with us below or on Facebook.

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