ALT/FNDATA · Market Report
Q2 2025 Report: The Secondary Market for Luxury Handbags
Auction-realized prices and the luxury-equity backdrop
The descent began: aggregate value fell about 25% year over year as the spring de-rating that hit the listed luxury houses reached the saleroom in the same quarter, even as the very top held and Hermès took the overwhelming majority of value.
The headline
The correction in three numbers
−25%
Auction value, YoY
Q2 sold-auction value fell from $23.6M to $17.7M (−25% like-for-like)
$321,804
Top lot, level YoY
A custom Bougainvillier alligator Hermès at Christie's; the 2024 top was $324,373
85%
Hermès share of value
$15.1M of $17.7M cleared, across 782 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 descent began: Q2 2025 cleared $17.7M across 1,918 sold lots, down approximately 25% in value year over year on both a gross and a like-for-like basis, the first of the year's declines after a firm first quarter.
- May was the quarter, roughly $10.6M of the $17.7M, concentrated almost entirely in Christie's late-May sale, which cleared all of the quarter's top lots.
- Hermès took roughly 85% of value ($15.1M) across 782 sold lots, with 254 Kelly and 233 Birkin lots clearing.
- The very top held even as the aggregate fell. The quarter's high, a custom Bougainvillier alligator Hermès at Christie's, realized $321,804, level with the $324,373 top of Q2 2024, the barbell pattern that would define the year.
- Value concentrated at the two flagship houses: Christie's ($10.8M) and Sotheby's ($5.6M) together cleared roughly 93% of the quarter.
- The decline mirrored the equities. The spring brought a broad luxury de-rating, LVMH down roughly 22% on a tariff shock and a first-quarter miss that cost it the most-valuable-luxury-company crown to Hermès; the handbag saleroom repriced in parallel, value down 25%.
Year-over-year
Q2 2024 vs. Q2 2025
Q2 2024 vs. Q2 2025: sold luxury-handbag lots at auction (like-for-like = the 16 houses that cleared lots in both quarters)
| Metric | Q2 2024 | Q2 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sold auction lots | 2,000 | 1,918 | −4% |
| Like-for-like lots | 1,900 | 1,407 | −26% |
| Total value (USD) | $23.6M | $17.7M | −25% |
| Like-for-like value | $23.5M | $17.6M | −25% |
| Top marquee lot | $324,373 | $321,804 | level |
The divergence
The spring brought a broad luxury de-rating: every major fell, led by LVMH (−22%) on a tariff shock and a first-quarter miss that cost it the most-valuable-luxury-company crown to Hermès. The handbag saleroom repriced in parallel, total value down 25%.
Source: Yahoo Finance closing prices (31 Mar 2025 to 30 Jun 2025).
The outlook
Three trends that will define the year
The descent begins
After Q1's high-water mark, the second quarter brought the year's first decline, value down 25%. The top held flat while the aggregate fell, the barbell taking shape: a stable pinnacle over a thinning middle.
Hermès as the market
At roughly 85% of value, Hermès again dominated, the Kelly and Birkin serving as the store of value as the broader market softened and the speculative middle receded.
The saleroom caught the equities down
Where the first quarter saw the equities turn while the saleroom held, the second brought them into line: the spring de-rating and the auction decline moved together, both repricing luxury risk on the same tariff-and-demand shock.
“Q2 was the first step down: the spring de-rating that hit the listed houses reached the saleroom in the same quarter, total value off a quarter even as the very top held.”
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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 (April to June)
- The luxury-equity backdrop: the spring de-rating across the majors
- Concentration: where capital actually cleared (Hermès and the flagship houses)
- Methodology and how to cite the data
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Source: ALT/FNDATA, “Q2 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 Q2 2025 luxury-equity performance. © 2026 ALT/FNDATA · altfndata.com/reports/luxury-handbag-market-report-q2-2025