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A 60m motor yacht built in 2022 charters for an average of 38% more than the same builder and same LOA built in 2008. That gap is the year-built premium, and it is one of the most consistent patterns in charter pricing. As of May 2026, looking at 120 yachts in the 50m to 75m range with comparable specifications, the rate decay from year-of-build follows a curve that the market mostly gets right and occasionally gets badly wrong.
The headline figure: charter rates depreciate roughly 2.5% to 3.5% per year of build age, with a sharper drop at year 10 and another at year 15. A major refit resets that curve, but not all the way to new-build.
The first decade: roughly 3% per year
A new-build delivered in 2025 charters at the top of its size class. Year 1 to year 3 holds that rate. Year 4 to year 8 sees the steady annual decay, with each year of age pulling roughly 2.5% to 3.5% off the rate compared to a current new-build of the same yard and size.
This is the cleanest part of the curve. The yacht is mechanically reliable, the interior is current, the technology stack is recent enough that nothing about the spec sheet feels dated. Charter clients see a 60m built in 2020 and a 60m built in 2024 as broadly equivalent products with a small refresh premium for the newer hull. The market prices that small premium accurately.
Year 10: the first cliff
At year 10, charter rates take a step down that is bigger than the year-on-year curve would predict. A 60m built in 2016, with no major refit, charters at roughly 15% to 22% below its 2024-built equivalent. The decade mark coincides with a perception change in the charter market: 2008 feels old, 2014 feels current, 2015 sits in the grey zone.
This is the point where a refit becomes commercially decisive. A 60m yacht with a 2023 full refit on a 2015 hull will charter within 5% to 8% of its current new-build equivalent. The same hull without that refit will sit 15% to 22% below it. The refit-vs-no-refit decision at the 10-year point is the single biggest non-LOA rate variable we track.
Year 15: the second cliff
At year 15, the gap to current new-build is roughly 30% to 38%, again assuming no significant refit. This is where the supply of comparable yachts gets thinner. The 50m+ charter fleet built before 2010 is gradually being retired from charter or routed to the long-stay and Caribbean-only end of the market. Yachts in this age bracket that have not been refitted face a structural rate problem that even good crew and good positioning cannot fully solve.
The yachts that buck this trend share two characteristics. First, a recent refit that addressed both the technical (engines, generators, water treatment, comms) and the cosmetic (interior, deck soft furnishings, swim platforms). Refits that only address one half do not move the rate. Second, a strong long-tenure captain who has been on the yacht through the refit and brings the operating knowledge with him. We see captain tenure of seven or more years on a refitted 15-year-old yacht as roughly equivalent to a fresh captain on a five-year-old yacht in terms of charter risk.
The refit reset
A meaningful refit (12 to 18 months in yard, multi-discipline scope, $5M+ spend on a 50m yacht) resets the rate curve to roughly the 5-year mark. So a 2010-built 60m that completed a comprehensive 2023 refit prices today like a 2020 build, roughly. Not like a 2024 build. The refit reset is real but partial.
A cosmetic refit (paint, soft furnishings, some interior) without addressing engines, generators, or systems is worth about 5% to 8% on the rate. Brokers will sell it like a full refit. The charter market knows the difference, and the rates eventually follow.
We covered the rate-relevant refit pattern in detail in our refit returning-to-charter analysis. The short version for this piece: ask whether the refit included engine and generator work, ask the cost, ask the yard, ask the duration. If three of the four answers are vague, treat the refit as cosmetic.
Where the market mis-prices age
Two patterns recur. First, the over-priced unrefitted older yacht. We see 12-to-18-year-old yachts (built 2008 to 2014) quoted at rates 10% to 15% above where the age curve says they should sit, almost always because the broker is leaning on a single-owner relationship and the yacht has not been re-priced since its last good charter season. These are the yachts where the rate looks reasonable until you compare the spec sheet to a 5-years-younger competitor in the same week.
Second, the under-priced recently-refitted yacht. A yacht that has just completed a comprehensive refit and returned to charter in the current season is often priced from the old rate card. Brokers do not always reset published rates immediately after a refit, particularly when the refit was completed in winter and the spring charter market is already running. We have placed three clients onto refit-reset yachts at pre-refit pricing in the past 14 months. That is the bargain corner of the age curve and it closes within one season as the new rate gets published.
What the LOA does to the age curve
The decay rate is not constant across size. Below 40m, charter rates decay faster (closer to 4% per year) because the smaller yacht fleet is larger and the consumer brand power of newer hulls is stronger. Above 70m, decay is slower (closer to 2% per year) because the supply of comparable yachts is smaller and an older 80m+ still has a structural reason to charter at a high rate.
This matters for clients shopping the middle of the range. A 12-year-old 45m sits significantly further down its rate curve than a 12-year-old 75m. The 45m discount may be 25%. The 75m discount may be 12%. Same age, different curves.
The spec elements that age fastest
Some yacht systems age the rate more than others. In order of damage to charter rate, the things that look dated fastest are: tender garage capacity (a yacht designed in 2008 with a 5m tender garage is now competing against newer yachts with 7m or 8m tender space), water-toy storage (the toy fleet has expanded materially in the last decade), beach club design (older yachts tend not to have the opening-transom beach club layout that is standard on newer builds), and at-anchor stabilisers (older yachts often only have underway fins). The yacht size and the captain tenure can hold the rate. The 5m tender garage cannot.
Passed on
We passed on a 65m built in 2007 last month that was quoted at 8% below its 2018-built equivalent. The age curve says that yacht should be 26% to 32% below it. The refit history was a 2016 paint job and some interior work. Engines were original. Tender garage was 5m. The owner was holding the rate up on a long-standing broker relationship. We moved the client to a 2014-built equivalent at roughly the same money.
We also passed on a 55m built in 2018 that had taken on water in a 2024 storm event and had a partially-completed insurance refit that was not yet documented. The yacht was being marketed at full-fleet rate. We will revisit the listing once the refit is closed out and the survey report is available.
What needs work
We would change how charter rate cards present build year and refit year. Most cards list "Year built: 2010" and stop there. The relevant data point is the most recent multi-discipline refit, the scope, and the yard. A yacht with a 2023 Lürssen refit on a 2010 Lürssen hull is a different commercial product from a yacht with a 2018 cosmetic refit on the same hull. Brokers know this. The rate cards should reflect it.
We would also push for refit cost disclosure on the rate card, in approximate bands. A $4M refit on a 50m yacht is meaningful. A $400K refit on the same yacht is paint and carpets. Bracketing the spend in $1M-to-$3M, $3M-to-$8M, $8M+ bands gives the charter client the information needed to underwrite the rate.