High Value Sales By Year

For today's post I used the NameBio list of the 100 all-time highest value sales to look at how high value sales have varied with year.  The sales on the list vary from $1 million to $14 million each.  There are other reported top sales lists (such as this one published by Sedo), that include higher value sales, but I thought it most consistent to use the NameBio verified sales list. The DN Journal top 20 sales of all time are at this link.

Results

The results are shown below (click on image for a higher resolution view).  Each year except 2001 and 2002 had at least one entry on the top 100 list, while the most in any year was 11 (2000 and 2014). 

Discussion

The most obvious trend is a correlation between major sales and stock market health. The periods during and just after, economic pullbacks had relatively few high value sales.  For example only one each in 2011 and 2012, and none at all in 2001 and 2002. The credit crisis induced stock market correction of 2008-2009 seemed to take a year or two to impact the high value domain name sales.  The peak of the dot com era is not surprisingly well represented by high value sales (6 in 1999 and 11 in 2000).

It turns out that 2014, the year when many of the new extensions became available, was tied for the most high value sales (11).

The current year, so far at least, seems on the low side, although the preceding years (2013 through 2017) were all consistent with the average over the 20 year period.

Many are predicting after one of the longest bull markets in history, particularly for the US based stock markets, that a correction is almost inevitable.  The data suggests that major domain sales will correlate with any pullback, although with a delay of a year or two typically.

Original post Oct 1, 2018.


Fine Print

This post is offered for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be considered domain name investment advice. While an attempt has been made to be accurate, there is no implied or explicit warranty, and you are responsible for verifying any information of importance to you. You also accept full responsibility for any domain investing decisions you may make.

I have no association with the folks who maintain NameBio database. I acknowledge the makers of these for the valuable products that they make freely available to the domain name community. 

I try to be fair, balanced and objective in my analysis.  If you feel this post does not meet that standard, please express your concerns to me.  

In a very few cases there may be affiliate links on this blog. This means I receive a small amount if users visit or make purchases via the link. You do not pay any additional charge due to using an affiliate link, and in some cases your cost will be below the normal price. I receive no identifying information about who clicks, or does not click, any link. I never accept compensation to provide favourable review of any particular service or product.

The text of this posting is ©R Hawkes, all rights reserved. However, you may, without permission, use reasonable length portions of the post as long as a link to this post is also provided. If you wish to use the complete contents of a post, please request permission. I am normally open to reprinting, but will consider each request individually.