New boat registrations down 18% YoY

Following a year of uncertainty in the powersports and marine industries, marine lenders are tapping into regional opportunities as the market recovers. Registrations remain down, but higher-end boats are starting to sell as the marine finance market recovers, which is also affecting which customers are returning to the market first, Russell Baqir , senior vice president of recreational financier Northpoint Commercial Finance , told Auto Finance News . “The people who are coming in with the bank financing that they have themselves, or they come in with cash that they've set aside for the recreational experience” came back, he said. “The credit buyer hasn't come back to the table.” Since some customers remain on the sidelines, U.S. boat retail registrations fell 18% year over year in January compared with an 8% YoY increase in January 2024, according to preliminary data from Statistical Surveys . The decline followed an 11.1% YoY drop in registrations in December 2025 and a 3.8% YoY decline in December 2024. With retail boat performance down and the more expensive boats not attracting as many credit buyers, the industry is working to align supply with market conditions, Baqir said. “Marine is in the process of shrinking our capacity and the size of our footprint, inventory-wise, to catch up to where the consumer demand is." — Russell Baqir, senior vice president of recreational financier Northpoint Commercial Finance The shift “gives a dealer the cash flow to pay his expenses [and] the margin to be able to pay his people,” he said. Regional conditions Marine segments in some regions have recovered faster than others since the 2023 downturn , Baqir said. “The freshwater side is probably coming out of this recreational recession that we've been in that nobody wants to recognize, but we know we're in one,” he said. “Saltwater was the last to go into the slowdown ... and now they haven't shown signs of cycling back out of this yet.” For example, the oil-dependent Gulf South markets have not recovered from the most recent oil slowdown or the last hurricane season, Baqir said. Meanwhile, regions such as Michigan continue to show improvement, and Miami performed well for some saltwater segments. Dealer feedback at major regional boat shows also indicated sales were flat to slightly down, though some expect growth in 2026, according to a Feb. 24 BMO Capital Markets research note. Analysts anticipate demand pressure to persist into 2026 as high interest rates have buyers waiting for better conditions, with premium brands potentially outperforming other segments. Dealers, OEMs adjusting Dealer fundamentals are expected to continue improving through 2026 as aging inventory declines, capacity tightens and dealers focus on selling older units, even if manufacturers do not yet see the full benefit of the cycle, Baqir said. “This is the year that we hit that cycle where the consumers and supply meet together, and the dealers that have survived this will start doing better, and we'll start seeing stronger financials,” he said. “On the manufacturers’ side, we should see that benefit the next cycle, because now the dealers have sold through that aged territory that stacked up, and they're going to need product.” To his point, lower OEM production and disciplined ordering reduced dealer inventory by an estimated 5% YoY at the end of January, according to the BMO research note. Across OEMs, Brunswick had mixed market share performance in January, while Winnebago gained share and Polaris lost share. Auto Finance News will present multiple invaluable events for industry professionals in 2026, starting with Auto Finance Summit East and Auto Finance Capital Summit in May. To see event agendas and register, visit autofinance.live .

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New boat registrations down 18% YoY

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