A couple of weeks ago I previewed Broad Arrow’s Air | Water 2025 sale, a Porsche-only auction whose lots ranged from purpose-built racers to road-going production sports cars and everything in between. In today’s Market Monday, I’m sharing the early results for the 2025 Air | Water Porsche Auction and my thoughts on what it might mean for the state of the Porsche market.

Broad Arrow’s Air | Water auction event was held at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California and is the exclusive partner to the Air | Water all-Porsche car show that takes place the same weekend.

Broad Arrow typically does a very nice job of consigning exciting Porsche cars for this event. Consignments ranged from blue-chip road going cars like a 1969 Porsche 911S coupe in desirable Tangerine paint to high-end iconic builds like the 1989 RUF CTR “Yellowbird” and a 1990 Singer Reimagined Porsche 964. In total, the house brough 55 total lots to Costa Mesa this year.

Of the 55 listings, 32 lots hammered sold as of this writing, with 23 lots failing to meet their stated reserves for a disappointing sell-through-rate of 58%. This is below the results for 2024’s Air | Water auction, which had a 61.4% STR. Seventeen of those lots were offered at no reserve and were going to sell regardless.

Based on my data for the lots sold as of this writing, just 7 cars sold within their estimates and only one car, the 1960 Porsche 356B Zagato “Sanction Lost” sold for above the house estimate. The remaining 24 cars failed to meet even the low estimate, but did manage to sell. As I’ve noted before, estimates are not necessarily accurate reflections of the market and sometimes represent a marketing strategy on the part of the auction house.

There were 21 pieces of memorabilia also sold at Broad Arrow’s 2025 Air | Water Porsche Auction — all at no reserve — and those sales would boost the total STR up to 70%. This is likely to be the published figure, pending any post-auction sales yet to be completed.

Below are the top 5 sales in terms of sale price. This list doesn’t consider whether the lots sold above their estimates or market values, just that they brought the most money. Notes to the effect of performance are included below.

RUF CTRs are pretty rare birds, making valuation difficult, so I’m going to hand it to the Broad Arrow team on this one. The team priced the car pretty accurately for mileage and condition. This example of the iconic record-setting car found a new home for a little above the low estimate of $4.5M, selling for $4.7M including buyer’s premium. This consignment will be a big contributor to the total dollar volume of this year’s sale.

I’m so pleased to see this lovely car has finally sold. Unsold at Gooding & Company’s Monterey auction last year and last listed at retail for nearly $2M, this lovely Porsche 906 sold for a final price of $1.53M including buyer’s premium against an estimate of $1.6-1.9M.

Sadly, mileage is a significant factor in the sale price of high-end exclusive supercars like the 918 Spyder. This car, with almost 2,000 miles on the odometer, sold for $2.6M or just under the low estimate provided by Broad Arrow. A Gulf livery 918 Spyder with a meager 317 miles sold for $3.5M at Gooding Amelia last year (2024). Trend-wise, the 918 market as a whole appears slightly up YOY.

Average values for Singer 911s hover right around a million USD, with only the DLS variants bringing significantly more money. This example had a mustard yellow interior that may be a bit singular in taste. Regardless, the car hammered for $1.06M including buyer’s premium, squeaking by the low estimate from Broad Arrow.

One of 64 964 3.6 Turbos ever built by Porsche with the X88 package, this car’s sale price also benefited from its Paint to Sample Ferrari Yellow paint. Mileage was decent at 32,839 miles. I’m a little surprised this car didn’t perform better given its rarity among the already desirable 3.6 Turbos, but here we are. The car sold for $555,000 against an estimate of $530-560K.

In my preview article from mid-April, I chose 5 cars from the Air | Water sale that I felt could comprise a pretty solid P-car collection. In general, my picks performed pretty much as I expected, with the exception perhaps of one newer model that did quite well.

This car’s result is covered above, and hearteningly I’m happy to see this incredibly cool “Sanction Lost” Porsche 356 sell for above its estimate. At this point, I think it’s safe to say that custom 356s built by well-known shops or coachbuilders are the ones that bring the money in today’s market.

Also covered above, I predicted this one was priced appropriately for the market and the result seems to bear that out. The 906 is one of Porsche’s prettiest race cars, in my opinion, and you can’t go wrong with one as original as this. I think it’s a little well bought, even at this price.

I can’t claim much credit for choosing this for a P-car collection, as it’s an icon and it’s probably worth every penny the high bidder paid. With just 29 ever made and this being the only one constructed with a lightweight interior, long-term appreciation is likely.

In my preview, I put forth the notion that every Porsche collection should have a daily driver or grocery-getter car for the days where the weather is chucking down the rain or snow but you still want the Porsche experience. My write-up suggested this car could go for bargain money based on previous performance, and I wasn’t wrong. The hammer price was $29,120 including buyer’s premium, which I’d actually consider well-sold, but the house might disagree as their estimate was $35-40K.

While the market average for similar 991-generation Speedsters is in the high $300Ks, this car hammered for $461,500 all-in. In my original post, I stated the high estimate was $500K, but that seems to have dropped to $450K, perhaps before the auction took place or due to some discrepancy in different auction reporting sources. Or I made an error. Either way, the selling price beat my prediction, though profits will be reduced a bit by the seller’s premium.

I love to find bargains at auctions, as there are almost always a few cars that sell for tempting prices. All lots below were listed at no reserve and failed to meet their low estimates by a sizable margin. Which car do you think was the most well-bought from the group? Let me know in the comments below!

2002 Porsche Boxster S — $9250 with buyer’s premium
1978 Porsche 911 Turbo — $140,000 with buyer’s premium
1948 Porsche Type 356/1 Recreation — $30,800 with buyer’s premium
1977 Porsche 911S — $47,600
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo — $44,800

The Air | Water Auction is a tough one to analyze due to its focus and relatively small size. You would expect that a gathering of Porsche enthusiasts would pull an audience primed to buy some of the marque’s most impressive creations. Sadly, the last 2 years of results seem to show the opposite. Of note, though, is that similar sales from Bonhams focusing on smaller numbers of cars from specific genres perform about the same. It could just be the dynamics of the sale’s format.

Laying the blame on a softening market is tempting and it’s a likely contributor to the YOY decline in sell-through-rate. We’re undoubtedly in a buyer’s market, and Porsche is no longer immune — at least at a macro level. If I were Broad Arrow, however, I’d be doing some deep analysis on whether Air | Water is as strategically sound a venue as it might seem. Enthusiasts who attend a show like Air | Water are already bought into the brand, where bigger events like Scottsdale, Monterey or Amelia Island have a more diverse audience who may not yet own a blue-chip Porsche.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Wolf and Mare provides appraisal services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring a professional appraisal, give us a call or drop a line!
The opinions shared above do not represent financial or investment advice.