“The Big One” has once again lived up to its name for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers.
During its huge annual auction in Orlando, Florida last week—the largest equipment auction in the world—Ritchie Bros. sold more than $166 million worth of heavy equipment. To give you an idea of how big this event is to the company, their average auction brings in $16 million.
Every item up for auction at the six-day event sold.
The company announced today the auction broke records for the number of on-site sellers as well as records for online sales, participating online buyers and online registered bidders.
More than 830 sellers were on the company’s permanent Orlando site for the auction where more than 8,800 items were sold. More than 8,640 bidders registered for the auction representing 84 countries and all 50 states.
One of the more interesting stories out of the auction was rental equipment. “Rental, backhoes, that stuff seems to be up because building and home building is back,” says Steve Kriebel, Orlando regional sales manager for Ritchie Bros. “Volume was down, but prices were up because they’re all in demand.”
While Kriebel says little can be gleaned from the auction in terms of forecasting construction industry trends and economic health, he says the company does believe the market price for equipment in large part is set at the Orlando auction.
