ALT/FNDATA · Market Report
Q1 2025 Report: The Secondary Market for Luxury Handbags
Auction-realized prices and the luxury-equity backdrop
The year opened at its high-water mark: aggregate value rose some 18% year over year, six-figure exotics still cleared freely, and Hermès took almost all of the value, before the market began the descent that would define 2025.
The headline
The correction in three numbers
+18%
Auction value, YoY
Q1 sold-auction value rose from $10.9M to $12.9M (+18% like-for-like)
$275,675
Top lot, level YoY
A matte Béton alligator Hermès at Christie's; the 2024 top was $275,291
93%
Hermès share of value
$11.9M of $12.9M cleared, across 689 sold lots
Auction-realized prices: what luxury handbags actually sold for at the hammer, not asking prices. · 10M+ auction results · 100+ houses.
Key findings
What the quarter told us
- The year's firmest quarter: Q1 2025 cleared $12.9M across 1,894 sold lots, up approximately 18% in value year over year on both a gross and a like-for-like basis, the high-water mark before the market softened through the rest of 2025.
- March was the quarter. The spring sales drove roughly $12.4M of the $12.9M, against a near-dormant January and February; value concentrated in a single month.
- Hermès was the market, at roughly 93% of value ($11.9M) across 689 sold lots, with 248 Kelly, 179 Birkin and 61 Constance lots clearing.
- The very top held steady. The quarter's high, a matte Béton alligator Hermès at Christie's, realized $275,675, essentially level with the $275,291 top of Q1 2024, six-figure exotics still clearing freely.
- Value concentrated at the flagship houses: Sotheby's ($7.4M) and Christie's ($4.4M) together cleared roughly 92% of the quarter.
- The public markets were mixed. A January relief rally lifted Richemont (+11%) and Hermès (+4%), but tariff threats sent LVMH (−10%) and Kering (−20%) lower into the spring, even as the handbag saleroom posted its strongest quarter of the year before following the equities down.
Year-over-year
Q1 2024 vs. Q1 2025
Q1 2024 vs. Q1 2025: sold luxury-handbag lots at auction (like-for-like = the 12 houses that cleared lots in both quarters)
| Metric | Q1 2024 | Q1 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sold auction lots | 1,349 | 1,894 | +40% |
| Like-for-like lots | 1,337 | 1,259 | −6% |
| Total value (USD) | $10.9M | $12.9M | +18% |
| Like-for-like value | $10.8M | $12.7M | +18% |
| Top marquee lot | $275,291 | $275,675 | level |
The divergence
The luxury majors split in Q1 2025: a January relief rally lifted Richemont (+11%) and Hermès (+4%), but tariff threats sent LVMH (−10%) and Kering (−20%) lower into the spring. The handbag saleroom, by contrast, posted its strongest quarter of the year before following the equities down.
Source: Yahoo Finance closing prices (31 Dec 2024 to 31 Mar 2025).
The outlook
Three trends that will define the year
The high-water mark
Q1 2025 was the firmest quarter of the year, six-figure exotics still clearing and aggregate value up 18%. It set the level from which the market would decline, the top still robust before the speculative middle began to thin.
Hermès as the market
At roughly 93% of value, Hermès dominated even the strong quarter. The Kelly and Birkin carried the value; everything else cleared at the margin, the concentration that would only deepen as the year wore on.
Equities turned before the saleroom
The luxury equities de-rated through the spring on tariff threats while the handbag saleroom posted its strongest quarter. The auction market lagged the equities' turn, then followed it down through the rest of 2025.
“The year opened at its high-water mark: six-figure exotics still cleared freely, Hermès took almost all of the value, and the market had not yet begun the descent that would define 2025.”
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Read the full report
The headline data above is free to cite. The full report is part of ALT/FNDATA Membership, which includes every quarterly market report and the Visual Analytics Hub. Inside this report:
- The full month-by-month auction breakdown (January to March)
- The luxury-equity backdrop: the January rally and the spring de-rating
- Concentration: where capital actually cleared (Hermès and the flagship houses)
- Methodology and how to cite the data
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Source: ALT/FNDATA, “Q1 2025 Report: The Secondary Market for Luxury Handbags” (June 2026). Based on auction-realized prices for luxury handbags cleared at the auction houses ALT/FNDATA tracks, with public-market context from Q1 2025 luxury-equity performance. © 2026 ALT/FNDATA · altfndata.com/reports/luxury-handbag-market-report-q1-2025