The art market had a rough year. Here’s how it plans to turn things around.

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Sales were down last year at the world’s chief auction houses, as wary sellers held onto their prized trophies. But experts at Sotheby’s have found at least one reason to celebrate: Luxury goods, which include everything from dinosaur bones to jewelry to rare sneakers, held up better than expected last year and hint at a possible market turnaround.

Sotheby’s said Thursday its overall sales last year fell 23% to $6 billion. About $4.6 billion of that total represented auction sales, down 28% from 2023. Another $1.4 billion represented privately brokered art sales, up 17% last year.

The privately held company doesn’t release earnings, but sales results capped a tough year for the house, which sought to right its finances by laying off some staff last year. Rival Christie’s, also privately held, said it sold $5.7 billion in art last year, down 6% from the year before. Its total included $4.2 billion in auction sales, down 16% from 2023, and $1.5 billion in private sales, up 41%.

The world’s chief auction houses historically rely on museum-worthy paintings and sculptures to be the mainstay of their offerings, and the priciest pieces sold at Sotheby’s and Christie’s last year were still blue-chip paintings: A banana. The emphasis on luxury also reflects an industry trying to figure out what younger buyers see as a worthy splurge. Houses are realizing it may pay off to alter their sales mix now that collectors are willing to pay as much for a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT as they are for a David Hockney landscape.