Prestige estate cars in the UK have become increasingly more affordable over the past 12 months as a change in supply and demand has prompted residual values to drop, according to new research .
EurotaxGlass’s, an automotive business intelligence body, said a number of factors have caused the values of prestige estate models to weaken.
"Demand appears to have slowed and the supply has improved steadily after several years of growing new estate car registrations . Meanwhile, new arrivals have improved choice for buyers," said Richard Crosthwaite, prestige car editor at EurotaxGlass's.
"The continued popularity of prestige brand SUVs has also affected both the sales and residual values of estate models ."
An example of weakened residual values is the case of the BMW 320d – in August 2006 the premium for a one year old estate model compared to the saloon version stood at £1,275, but just in one year this figure has fallen to £625, a 51 per cent reduction.
But Crosthwaite revealed that, despite the decrease in values, the market for prestige estate cars is not in danger of crashing and instead reflected the change in supply to the marketplace.
He added, "Values are merely coming back from unsustainably high levels, reflecting prevailing levels of supply and demand and making them more accessible to greater numbers of used car buyers ."
