Public auction sales declined by 1.7% globally and by 1.7% in the US , in favour of private sales through both auctioneers and dealers, according to 2016 's Tefaf art market report. Using a mixture of public and private sources, including offices of national statistics, financial databases and gallery sales, the annual Tefaf art market report in 2017 estimates that the global art market is worth $ 45bn , an increase of 41% compared with 2015 . However, data collated according to different criteria gave the size of the market as $ 63.8bn in 2015 , the difference being the 2016 survey defined art dealers and galleries more specifically than hitherto. Given the public outcry over austerity measures and global inequality, “buyers at the top-end of the market are preferring privately brokered deals to the traditional auction setting of bidding by open outcry”, the report states. Illustrating the difficulty in reaching an accurate figure of the market's true value.
Public auction sales declined by 1.7% globally and by 1.7% in the US , in favour of private sales through both auctioneers and dealers, according to 2016 's Tefaf art market report. Using a mixture of public and private sources, including offices of national statistics, financial databases and gallery sales, the annual Tefaf art market report in 2017 estimates that the global art market is worth $ 45bn , an increase of 41% compared with 2015 . However, data collated according to different criteria gave the size of the market as $ 63.8bn in 2015 , the difference being the 2016 survey defined art dealers and galleries more specifically than hitherto. Illustrating the difficulty in reaching an accurate figure of the market's true value.