This article is part of the Artnet Intelligence Report Mid-Year Review 2024. Our analysis of the first half of the year’s market trends provides a data-driven overview of the current state of the art world, highlighting auction results and trends, and spotlights the artists and artworks shaping the dialogue.

According to Artnet’s Mid-Year Intelligence Report, online-only sales are down, but not as significantly as some other sales categories.

A total of $190 million worth of fine art sold in online-only sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips, Bonhams, and Artnet Auctions in the first half of 2024. The result represents a 16.9 percent dip from the same period in 2023.

© 2024 Artnet Worldwide Corporation.

Still, online sales between January and June were 302 percent higher than during the same period five years ago, before the pandemic drove many auctions online, when they totaled just $47.2 million.

Price points for online sales continued to descend from their pandemic-era high of $52,890 in the first half of 2021. The average price of a work of art sold online in the first half of this year was $14,553, 21 percent lower than in the same period in 2023, but 5 percent higher than the second half of 2023.