鈥淲e had a very successful auction in February where older machinery with higher hours were getting amazing money 鈥� really phenomenal,鈥� Ritchie Bros regional sales manager Rupert Craven tells Construction Briefing.

鈥淪ome machines that were nearly 20 years old sold for what would have been well over 50% of what was paid for them back in 2007.鈥�

Separately, a new (March 2025) report from Rouse, part of RB Global, shows a sharp increase in value of all types of construction equipment, including excavators, telehandlers, aerial, site dumpers, and compaction, since the start of 2025.

Image courtesy of Ritchie Bros

Craven鈥檚 anecdote and that report illustrate a wider point about why it鈥檚 a strange time in the world of construction equipment sales.

If you look at the median price that used crawler excavators sold for in Q4, based on Ritchie Bros鈥� latest , it shows that they actually fell by nearly 21% to 鈧�27,910 as compared to Q4 2023. But the volume of sales was significantly lower, having trended downwards throughout the second half of the year.

The lower sales were despite the fact that the average volume of crawler excavators listed for sale on the online equipment and machinery market Mascus was flat during Q4 2024, compared to the same quarter of last year.

The decline for mini excavators was less marked, with a 3% drop in the median price to 鈧�11,145 in Q4 of 2024, and an 8% increase in listings on Mascus compared to the year before.

鈥淧robably our strongest product group is one- to three-and-a-half-tonne excavators,鈥� says Craven. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite a low value point and there is a big market for them. They go on for many years and everyone has a use for them. Whereas if you look at a 65-tonne excavator, there鈥檚 only a couple of people who want it.鈥�

Whether it is mini excavators or their larger counterparts though, sellers have been holding onto machines for longer as a consequence of the high cost of new machines. Then there is the complexity involved in shipping machines from the UK, where the majority of what is sold through Ritchie Bros originates, to buyers across Europe. Sellers are reluctant to sell if such complexity reduces the profitability of a sale, Craven notes.

鈥淩itchie Bros has a fantastic business in Spain and Italy, with huge numbers of bidders. There are lots of people looking for machines but you have the complexity of getting those machines over there. We need to have the ability to move machinery around freely and cheaply. If the complexity is too high, then the costs can outweigh the benefits. We saw a lack of appetite from people buying and selling machines towards the end of Q4 2024. Customers need to bring machinery back home from the UK at a price that makes it worth doing,鈥� he says.

Meanwhile, buyers have been trying to wait out the market, hoping for better deals to come along. Q1 of 2025 has seen a sharp uptick in sales as compared to the same period the year before, suggesting that some buyers have decided they can鈥檛 wait any longer.

Prices are cyclical, Craven points out, and lower median prices for machines towards the end of a year are generally to be expected. Nonetheless, the relative lack of supply and the high demand mean that as we have moved into 2025, prices of used machines have spiked to unusually high levels, even for older machines.

鈥淚t all comes down to the fact that new machines are so expensive. People are looking at ways of saving money and reducing their costs,鈥� Craven says.

UK less cheap than it was

The UK has traditionally been a cheaper place to buy used equipment thanks to its status as a large market and the fact that 80-90% of machines are bought by hire companies that then look to offload them after a three- to five-year cycle. Generally, they also tend to prefer to sell them abroad so that don鈥檛 end up in the hands of their competitors.

But it isn鈥檛 as cheap as it once was, Craven notes. 鈥淭he days when people could buy a machine and sell it within the same year I think are long gone. I think OEMs have also put the transactional price to the UK market up. So it used to be very cheap place to buy machinery and it鈥檚 still cheaper than Europe, but less cheap than it was.鈥�

It鈥檚 also interesting to note in Ritchie Bros鈥� European Used Machinery Market Trends Report that the UK rose to being the third most popular buying location for crawler excavators in Q4 2024, behind Spain and Italy. The UK didn鈥檛 appear in the top 5 at all in Q4 2023. That supports Craven鈥檚 point that there was less appetite to ship out machines from the UK to other countries, at least at the end of last year.

鈥淚f you are going to move a machine from our site in Maltby in the UK to Serbia, for instance, it has to be a worthwhile machine to do that with. If it鈥檚 not at a price point that makes it desirable, it normally goes to a local market buyer,鈥� says Craven.

Recovery slow to arrive, prices expected to increase

In its report, Richie Bros said that while there have been early signs of improvement in the European construction and contracting market, activity levels remain low and a stronger recovery isn鈥檛 expected until later in 2025.

Image courtesy of Ritchie Bros

High building costs are likely to continue to weight on a recovery, coupled with higher interest rates, although it noted that many construction companies around Europe have received an increased level of building permits which sets the stage for growth later this year.

Craven adds that he expects the cost of all types of construction equipment 鈥� both new and old 鈥� to remain high.

鈥淲e have had a strong start to the year, with people buying all sorts of machinery and of all ages,鈥� he says.

鈥淭o be selling nearly 20-year-old machines for great money indicates that new machinery is still very expensive. It requires a lot of confidence to go out and invest hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds in machinery that you have to have a five-year payback on before you have cleared the finance. Here in the UK, that isn鈥檛 around at the moment.

鈥淗ire companies have been quite conservative, which means they won鈥檛 sell as much.鈥� Craven adds that the three- to five-year selling cycle that hire companies normally employ looks to be lengthening, while hire companies are themselves buying more used machines, rather than new, than they have in the past.

鈥淭hat has a knock-on effect. So this year could be quite tight on new machinery bought and used machinery sold. And that will mean that the price goes up,鈥� he says.