A new report reveals a significant shift in the global art market, with women collectors, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, outspending their male counterparts and demonstrating a greater openness to acquiring works by unknown artists. This trend suggests a potential reshaping of future collecting landscapes.
Key Takeaways
- Women collectors, especially younger generations, are outspending men in the art market.
- Female collectors show a higher propensity for buying works by unknown artists, challenging traditional risk-aversion stereotypes.
- Direct sales from artists are rapidly increasing in popularity, becoming the second most preferred acquisition channel.
- Paintings remain the most popular art form across all demographics, but younger collectors show broader interests.
- Millennial women in Mainland China and Japan are among the highest spenders globally.
The Evolving Landscape of Art Collecting
The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025 provides a comprehensive look into the habits of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) actively engaged in the art market. Released today, the 200-page report surveyed 3,100 HNWIs across ten markets in mid-2025. The core objective was to understand who is buying art, what they are acquiring, where they are purchasing it, and for how much.
This research offers crucial insights into future market directions. While older generations, largely male, have historically defined the 'blue chip' art market, the tastes and behaviors of younger buyers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, are now under intense scrutiny. These demographics are expected to drive future trends.
Wealth in Women's Hands
By the end of 2024, women controlled over one-third of global wealth. This share is projected to grow, with women managing an estimated $32 trillion in global spending and controlling 75% of discretionary spending within the next five years, according to UBS’s 2025 Gender-Lens Investment Report.
Clare McAndrew, an economist and author of the report, emphasized the importance of an evenly split sample between men and women for this year's survey. This approach allowed for a detailed analysis of gender differences in collecting habits. The survey also covered a broad age range, with 74% of respondents being Millennials and Gen Z, providing a forward-looking perspective on how art buying will evolve.
Generational Spending Habits and Preferences
Despite ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainties, HNWIs continued to actively invest in art, antiques, and collectibles. The survey found that HNWIs allocated an average of 20% of their wealth to art collections in 2025, a notable increase from 15% in 2024. Ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) with assets exceeding $50 million dedicated an even higher average of 28%.
Across all participants, average spending reached $438,990, with collectors acquiring an average of 14 works. Baby Boomers, though the smallest demographic in the sample, were the highest spenders, averaging almost $993,000. Millennials followed with an average spend of $523,000.
Beyond a Market Temperature Check
McAndrew clarified that this collecting report differs from the annual Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. Rather than a 'temperature check' of the market, this survey focuses on a broader group of wealthy individuals, asking them to self-assess their tastes and spending patterns, offering a deeper dive into collector psychology.
Interestingly, Gen Z clients committed a comparatively higher percentage of their wealth to art, at 26%. Furthermore, 90% of Gen Z respondents who inherited art expressed intentions to keep these works, a strong indicator of long-term engagement with collecting. Across all age groups, 80% planned to pass their collections to their children.
Diverse Tastes Across Generations
Collecting priorities varied significantly by generation. While Boomers largely focused on paintings, Millennials and Gen Z exhibited broader interests. Millennials spent the most on decorative art, design, and jewelry. Countering the perception that Gen Z prioritizes experiences over material possessions, they showed the highest average spending in several other sectors.
This included handbags (on par with Boomers), classic cars, boats, and jets. Notably, Gen Z spent five times more than other age groups on sneakers, averaging $19,440 on second-hand footwear. This highlights a diverse and evolving definition of 'collectibles'.
Digital Art's Resilience
Despite the broader downturn in the NFT market, digital art remains surprisingly popular. 23% of HNWIs plan to buy digital art, up from 19% in the previous survey. Among Gen Z collectors, this figure rises to 26%.
Overall, paintings remain the most popular genre, with 48% of HNWIs planning a purchase in the next year, followed by sculptures at 37%. Gen Z respondents, after Boomers, were the most acquisitive in sculpture, with 40% planning to buy. This painting and sculpture dominance was consistent across genders, though women showed higher interest than men in acquiring other mediums like photography, installations, textile-based art, and digital art.
Intriguingly, despite digital art being a male-dominated area, its share in female HNWIs’ collections was 15%, higher than in men’s collections at 11%.
Women's Growing Influence and Risk Appetite
Women are rapidly gaining influence as art collectors. In 2024, high net worth women spent 46% more than their male peers. This trend is driven primarily by Millennial and Gen Z women, who significantly outspent their male counterparts.
Millennial women reported an average spend of $643,700 in 2024, one of the highest overall figures. Gen Z women spent $537,400, more than double that of men in the same age group. Millennial women in Mainland China recorded one of the highest annual spends, averaging $3.9 million in 2024, while those in Japan averaged over $1 million.
"Women are going to be a very powerful demographic," McAndrew stated. "Mainland China is always an outlier in these surveys, but when I see something consistently, year after year, in these surveys it means it’s quite a serious thing. Even though we talk a lot about a drop at the high end of the market, there are still these bizarrely high spending pockets, like these women in China, Japan and Brazil, too, who spend much more than their male counterparts."
Previous reports did not establish a link between female collectors and a preference for works by female artists. However, the latest survey found that, on average, 49% of works in women’s collections were by female artists, compared to 40% in men’s collections. This figure rose to 55% in US women's collections and 54% in Japan.
Challenging Risk-Aversion Stereotypes
Contrary to the stereotype of women being more risk-averse, the report indicates that female respondents are more open to purchasing works by newly discovered, untested artists. In 2025, 55% of women reported frequently or often buying works by unknown artists, compared to 44% of men. This is notable given that 52% of all participants viewed such acquisitions as high risk.
"We asked a whole series of questions on risk aversion in different areas, everything from financial and investment risk to social situations to healthcare, it was fascinating," McAndrew explained. "All the academic papers say that women are more risk averse… Amy Whitaker made a very good point that it’s the consequences they face that make women more risk averse. When a man tries something, we say ‘oh well, he gave it a go’, whereas if a woman tries something and it doesn’t work, they often face more stringent critique."
Amy Whitaker, an Associate Professor at New York University in visual arts administration, and Roman Kräussl, a professor of finance at Bayes Business School, explored gender differences in risk-taking within the report. They highlighted the complexity of quantifying risk, noting that "Risk is implicitly tied to return, and return is judged differently by different people."
McAndrew also pointed out that, regardless of gender, respondents tended to be more risk-averse when buying art compared to financial investments. This could be due to the social aspect of art collecting. "If you turn out to buy something that’s a ‘dud,’ it’s socially embarrassing and people might judge you, in a way they wouldn’t if you lost money on a fund," she suggested. This phenomenon may contribute to the trend of collectors focusing on a narrow group of 'superstar' artists to mitigate perceived social risk.
Shifting Sales Channels in the Art Market
The report also examined the preferred channels through which HNWIs acquire art. While galleries and dealers remain the primary avenue, accounting for 83% of sales in 2024 and the first half of 2025, the use of auctions has declined. The percentage of collectors buying art through auctions dropped from 74% in 2023 to 49% in 2024/25.
Younger collectors appear less reliant on traditional platforms like auctions and galleries, opting for a broader range of acquisition methods. A significant shift highlighted in the survey is the marked rise in direct sales from artists, now the second-most popular channel across all markets.
Of all HNWIs surveyed, 63% had bought works directly from an artist, a sharp increase from 27% in 2023 and 43% in 2022. Most of these direct sales occurred through artists’ studios (43%), while 37% of HNWIs commissioned a work (up from 15% in 2023), and 35% purchased works through Instagram.
"Direct from artist sales accounted for around 20% of spending, which is considerable," McAndrew noted. "If that is indicative of what is going on [in the market], then we will have to try and find a way to capture that data. There does seem to be an appetite among collectors for buying direct from artists."
McAndrew concluded that the market shows signs of stabilization. "The fact that buying plans are ok, 40% of people are planning to buy art, is encouraging," she said. "There seem to be pockets of really strong activity—Brazil, for instance, stood out. There’s more people planning to buy than planning to sell, which could be a sign of things building. There’s no indications it’s going to be a boom, but the report does show some stability."