A little off topic again, but when I say spec yachts, it covers several situations.
One is when a shipyard is new or expanding and want to show the world what they can achieve. Another is when the order books look empty for a certain period and the shipyard know it will need the workforce soon again so they build a spec boat to maintain momentum. A third is when an order is cancelled halfway, where it is better to continue the build on spec than stop. It can also happen as with Utopia, the owner dies and the relatives wants the project to be finished and then sold.
Some shipyards also like to build on speculation since they can go on without an owner interfering with new ideas, and later discussions on the added costs and broken timeframes.
But there are also a number of yachts built where someone, like Staluppi, is running it as a spec project. He is obviously doing it for the fun of developing fast and special yachts and later sell one or more of them.
Other just go in and finance a handful of yachts and is getting their own built for a share of the profit. And finally, some are joint ventures with brokers and financiers.
I also know where a buyer change his mind, often wants a bigger yacht, before taking delivery and is selling the project underway.
We donīt know all reasons why so many new or almost new yachts come up for sale, but I like to think that the owner is realizing the design was not really what he wanted. I am often right when I see a new (less good) design being built, that it will be up for sale sooner rather than later...
To end this long reply, this is also why semi-custom (or semi-spec) yachts are becoming more popular. The price is lower and the lead times are much shorter which especially first time buyers appreciate. Many are happy if they can just make the decoration to their own taste and get the new yacht within months instead of years.
