London Falling? A New Report on Three Decades of the British Art Market Finds Its Growth Trailing Rival Hubs

The British Art Market Federation’s report “The British Art Market 1996–2025,” marking the anniversary of the foundation, is out now, measuring how the world’s second-largest art market has performed against its principal competitors, the United States and China. It’s authored by Arts Economics, the same firm that writes the Art Basel/UBS art market reports, founded by economist Clare McAndrew.

The good news (for the British, anyway) is that the UK is the world’s second-largest market by value, and has grown from £2.6 billion ($4 billion) in 1996 to £8 billion ($10.5 billion) in 2025. (It’s relevant to note that $4 billion, adjusted for inflation, is $8.7 billion.)

The bad news is that the UK market’s growth has lagged behind that of its competitors in recent years. While the US market has grown since 2009 by some 114% and aggregate global sales have climbed by 51%, UK sales have grown by just 14%. Many of the small businesses that are part of the organization cite what they call the stifling effects of excessive and growing regulation, writes the British Art Market Federation president Anthony Browne in the report. The report mentions Brexit, which took place in 2020, only once, in the context of a growth in imports within the EU since 2021 due to changes in reporting procedures.

That £8 billion figure made the UK’s market the largest by far in Europe, accounting for about half the entire European market. It accounted for 18% of global sales by volume, ahead of France at 8% and China at 14% but well behind the US, which constituted 44% of global sales.

Over 30 years, the UK art market’s highest-ever point was achieved in 2008, when it weighed in at £11.2 billion ($20.8 billion) before crashing down some 57% in dollar terms in the global financial crisis to £5.7 billion ($8.9 billion).

Imports in 2025 dropped by 45% from their 2015 values. When surveyed since 2000, however, that number has grown by 35%. While exports have expanded by 46% since 2000, they fell by 15% year on year, says the report, possibly due to “indirect effects and uncertainties” created by US president Donald Trump’s ever-changing announcements about tariffs; much of the decline was accounted for, after all, by the decrease in exports to the States. In the slightly longer view, the UK has been less dependent on US trade over time, with the US share of exports falling by half since 2000 and the share of imports dropping by almost the same amount.

According to the report, the UK was home to about 7,610 dealers and galleries last year, about a third of them in London, generating an estimated £4.6 billion (about $6.1 billion) in sales. The number of businesses has grown by a third since 2003. Most are “small or micro businesses,” with 89% of them notching sales of £1 million ($1.3 million) or lower in 2025.

Art fairs were a crucial part of those entities’ business plan, accounting for 37% of dealers’ 2025 sales. They may be traveling more to attend; while the UK hosted 52 fairs in 2019, it hosted just over 40 last year. Galleries dug deep to participate in these events, collectively shelling out some £315 million ($419 million) in 2025.

Galleries’ sales are top-heavy, with a top-selling artist accounting for 38% of sales on average and their top three earners accounting for 59%. And they’re only getting more top-heavy; both those numbers have ticked up from 2022, with the share of revenue from the top three artists rising from 48%. (The UK is not alone in this; for galleries globally, the top three’s share has gone from 51% to 58%.)

Auction houses that sell art, antiques and other collectibles loom large in the UK’s arts economy, with 1,170 houses (out of 3,500 auctioneers and auction rooms overall) generating 42% of sales by value in 2025, totaling £3.3 billion ($4.4 billion). That number rose 8% in 2025, but remained 20% below its high point in 2023. While 78% of fine art lots sold were valued under $5,000, fully 45% of the value of sales was accounted for by lots in the $1 million to $10 million range. Works of art sold for $1 million or up accounted for 55% of the total value, though they made up less than 1% of the transactions.

Postwar and contemporary art reigns as the largest sector in the auction market, accounting for just under half its value. At the same time, the UK leads the Old Master market, with a 38% share globally.

The UK art market generated a conservatively estimated £1.5 billion in tax revenues in 2025.