A strong construction season and positive signs that manufacturers are solving supply chain issues have energized an equipment market that had been marked by rising prices and a scramble to source used equipment. The latest figures from industry analyst EquipmentWatch hint at some hopeful trends from the last few months. Used equipment prices at resale and auction are continuing to plateau, with the irregular spikes seen during pandemic disruptions of recent years possibly now a thing of the past.
Hints at the end of last year of greater price stability have begun to be borne out by the data, according to EquipmentWatch. In particular, the numbers seem to show a slight decline in resale activity, but a jump in auction volume. “It looks like people are trying to get rid of equipment more in February compared to January,” says Sam Pierce, sales engineer with EquipmentWatch. “But they’re coming off a slow season in the winter, so we expect it to pick up in the spring.” These are seasonally expected trends, and it’s notable that resale activity in the first months of the year were considerably lower than at the beginning of 2021, when pandemic-related supply chain disruptions were in full force and fleet managers were trying to source equipment from wherever they could find it.