Defaults on Non-Bank Art Loans Rise Dramatically Amid Market’s Struggles, Report Finds

Half of non-bank art lenders experienced loan defaults in 2024, up from 17 percent two years earlier, according to the Art and Finance Report 2025, published by Deloitte Private and ArtTactic.That figure, however, is still better than 2020, the first year of Covid, when two-thirds of these lenders faced defaults as the art market all but came to a standstill.Harry Smith, executive chair of art valuers Gurr Johns, put it bluntly to the Financial Times: “The market is split between the best