The 2026 survey by Art Basel and UBS, published on 8 October, places Gen Z at the top of average spending among 3,100 wealthy collectors. It also places it at the top of discretion.
The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2026 is written by Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics. It surveys 3,100 high-income collectors (high-net-worth, HNW) across ten markets: the United States, the United Kingdom, mainland China, Hong Kong, France, Australia, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Singapore. The data cover 2025 and the first half of 2026. Art Basel organises art fairs; UBS advises collector clients and co-publishes the survey. The figures that follow are those of the report.
An average, and what it covers
The collectors in the sample spent an average of 124,265 dollars on art in 2025 (+13% on 2024). Those of Gen Z spent 347,460 (+19%), more than twice the average of each of the other generations surveyed. The gap holds in the first half of 2026.
These figures should be read alongside the distribution. Only 1% of collectors acquired a work of more than one million dollars in 2025 and the first half of 2026, and Gen Z accounts for nearly half of these buyers. In addition, 77% of collectors spent less than 50,000 dollars in total on art in the first half of 2026. These two series do not make it possible to say what share of the average comes from the highest purchases, nor what the ordinary collector of the generation spends.
Painting is not alone
Fine art accounts for a third (33%) of spending on art and collectibles in 2026; with decorative arts, the share rises to 55% (49% in 2025). The rest is divided among design (9%), antiques (8%), jewellery and gemstones (6%), watches (6%) and collectible handbags and sneakers (8% in total).
Gen Z is the most diversified: 42% of its collectors acquired works in at least two other categories in 2026, against 39% of baby boomers and fewer than a quarter of millennials and Gen X. In jewellery and gemstones, they spent an average of 151,310 dollars, five times more than Gen X (29,500). For their first purchases, painting comes first, cited by 43% of collectors among their first three acquisitions. Next come antiques (26%), decorative arts (19%) and jewellery and gemstones (17%).
These buyers do their own research: 72% of collectors (80% of Gen Z) carried out moderate or in-depth research before buying, against 62% in 2025. Among them, 58% use digital resources to inform themselves, including 22% who use apps and online tools.
The closed circle
According to the survey, 64% of collectors prefer to keep their collection confidential, at home or within a closed circle, and 10% seek broad recognition. Among those who lend to museums, 30% ask for complete anonymity, 47% for discreet recognition and 17% for public recognition.
Gen Z is the most reserved: 39% restrict access to their collection to close family, friends and household, nearly twice as many as any other generation. Online, 42% share their works with closed or invitation-only groups, the highest share across all generations. What matters most to them, as to collectors as a whole, is uniqueness or rarity (43%), cited by 48% of Gen Z against 38% of baby boomers.
“Status depends more on rarity, provenance, originality and discovery than on price,” says Clare McAndrew.
The survey thus measures a gap between what people spend and what they show. It does not say whether this gap is due to generation or to age: only successive editions will be able to settle the matter.
Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2026, written by Clare McAndrew (Arts Economics), published on 8 October 2026. 3,100 high-income collectors, ten markets, 2025 and first half of 2026. Free download on artbasel.com.
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