Art can inspire awe and appreciation—but it can also appreciate in value or provide protection against inflation.

克利斯朵夫Spaenjers, an associate professor of finance in the Leeds School of 业务, 研究实物资产, 包括艺术, and has found that artworks can be a better way to preserve purchasing power than traditional investments like bonds. 

However, art investment has lottery-like features. “Many artworks appreciate at a moderate rate, but a very small fraction realize extremely high returns,斯潘杰斯在一篇文章中写道 2023年的报告 published by investment bank UBS and international art fair Art Basel.

今天的科罗拉多大学 sat down with Spaenjers to discuss the how and why of investing in art.

What makes art an attractive investment in an inflationary environment?

Many financial assets are hurt by inflation. For bonds, inflation has a major effect because the cash flows are fixed. So the purchasing power of the payments associated with bonds goes down. Inflation also has a negative effect on things like stock prices.

So some people look at real assets in times of inflation, and different types of collectibles have often done relatively well. 当然还有黄金. But there’s also art and other types of collectibles that are arguably more “gold-like,“就像钻石和葡萄酒, which are easier assets to move into than art. 

With these investments there are no cash payments, so their values are not tied to financial income streams. When inflation goes up, there's nothing that stops art prices from going up as well. 

谁投资艺术品? 你一定要成为百万富翁吗?

I would definitely never recommend the average household to start buying art just as an investment. 对于大多数家庭来说, there's plenty of other assets that they would probably invest in first, 像股票一样, 债券和房地产.

If you're fortunate enough to be relatively wealthy, then collectibles can be an interesting addition to a portfolio. 即使在那时, you shouldn’t consider only the financial aspect, unless you’re a market insider or can afford to build a diversified collection of blue-chip artworks. 对大多数人来说, it only makes sense if they enjoy the artwork and are also looking for nonfinancial returns.

Are there options for less-wealthy investors to enter art investing, 比如购买部分股票?

There’s a long history of efforts like this, but many have failed. 我总是有点怀疑. Investment vehicles like these tend to be associated with high fees for end investors—in a market that already has high transaction costs.

你还必须阅读小字体. 谁决定作品何时转售? Where is it going to be stored or displayed? I think in many cases the investors would probably be better off buying a piece that they can enjoy, even if the financial return might be slightly lower. Or put their money in more traditional financial assets.

What determines success as an art investor?

There's a lot of different elements that will determine your financial success. Some collectors are very knowledgeable about which artists are becoming more popular or about which other collectors are looking to buy or sell. 但也有运气的因素. 

Something I wish people were more aware of is that it’s not just like you’re buying a stock and then your investment moves in step with the S&标准普尔500指数. 事情不是这样的. 每个艺术资产都是独一无二的, and there’s a lot of heterogeneity and elements of noise that are outside of your control. 

Some artists will go up in value a bit, a couple will go up a lot, and others not at all. You might be lucky to face little competition when buying at auction or unlucky and have to pay a high price. 

It is important to know the strengths and limitations of marketwide indices. They can give you a good sense of what prices have done historically, but most art collectors have a very small portfolio, which can do much better or much worse than the market as a whole.