Yacht sales
A bespoke search for a first motor yacht for Côte d'Azur summers
Yacht sales in Cannes
Yacht sales is the buy-side of the house: helping you find and acquire the right yacht, whether a first motorboat for the Côte d'Azur or a superyacht for the season. A good sale starts with the question most brokers skip — what is the boat actually for? The honest answer shapes everything that follows.
A guided search
We run a bespoke search against your brief — type, size, age, budget and the kind of days you want to spend aboard. Cannes and the wider Riviera are among the most active yacht markets in the Mediterranean, with the Cannes Yachting Festival in September a focal point for new and brokerage stock. We sift the market so you see only boats worth seeing.
To the MYBA standard
Acquisition runs to the MYBA framework — standard agreements, proper escrow of funds, sea trials and survey before you commit. We coordinate the survey, the paperwork and the registration (including the French flag and RIF where relevant), and we tell you plainly when a boat is wrong for you, even when it is the easy sale.
Priced and advised honestly
Every acquisition is handled by quote and by advice, never a hard sell. The brokerage commission and process are set out clearly from the start. Tell us what the boat is for, and we will find the one that fits — and steer you away from the ones that do not.
Buying on the Côte d'Azur
The Riviera market rewards patience and punishes haste. A yacht that looks right on paper can be wrong in the water, and the survey and sea trial exist precisely to find that out before money changes hands. We coordinate berthing, VAT and registration questions and connect you with maritime tax advisers where the French charter-VAT regime or the RIF flag are in play. The goal is a clean acquisition you are glad of in three seasons, not just a deal closed this month. We would rather you walk away from the wrong boat and come back next season for the right one than rush a purchase you regret — a reputation on the Cannes pontoons is built one honest sale at a time, and that is the only way we know how to work.
Typical use cases
- A bespoke search for a first motor yacht for Côte d'Azur summers
- Acquiring a brokerage yacht around the Cannes Yachting Festival
- Survey, sea trial and registration coordinated end to end
- Honest advice when a boat is wrong for your brief
How do I buy or sell a yacht through Yacht Cannes?
Buying starts with a single question — what is the boat actually for? The honest answer shapes the type, size, age and budget, and from there we run a bespoke search, filtering the market so you only see boats worth seeing. Every acquisition follows the MYBA framework: standard agreements, escrow of funds, and a sea trial and survey before you commit. We coordinate the paperwork, registration including the French flag where relevant, and charter-VAT questions with specialist advisers. Selling works the other way: it begins with an honest valuation of what your yacht is really worth today, then accurate presentation and qualified viewings so your time goes only to genuine buyers. Deposits sit in escrow and the MYBA agreement protects both sides, so the sale completes cleanly. Throughout, we work by advice rather than pressure, and we will tell you plainly when a boat is wrong for you — even when it would be the easy deal.
How do I buy a yacht on the Côte d'Azur?
Buying a yacht starts not with a listing but with a question: what is the boat for? The honest answer — day trips or long cruises, family or guests, how many days a year on the water — shapes the type, size, age and budget. From there our brokers run a bespoke search and filter the market so you only see boats worth seeing, drawing on the deep brokerage network of Cannes, Antibes and Monaco, one of the most active in the Mediterranean. Once a boat is chosen the process follows a clear, protected order: a conditional offer, signature of a MYBA sale agreement with the deposit held in escrow, a sea trial, an independent survey, and only then the release of conditions and transfer of title. Nothing is final until the survey is accepted. We also coordinate registration, including the French flag and the RIF, and charter-VAT questions with specialist advisers, so the acquisition is handled end to end.
Should I buy a new or a used yacht, and what does ownership cost?
A new yacht offers full customisation and a yard warranty but long build times; a used yacht lets you see the boat, trial it and negotiate the price now, and the brokerage market from Cannes to Monaco is one of the deepest in Europe, from day-boats to superyachts. Which suits you depends on how soon you want to be on the water and how particular you are about specification. Whichever you choose, weigh the true cost of ownership, not just the purchase price: a berth, crew on larger yachts, annual maintenance, winter storage, insurance and depreciation. A common rule of thumb is that a year of running costs is around ten per cent of the yacht's value. Placing the boat in charter for part of the season can offset some of that, which is why many owners ask us to manage charter alongside ownership. We will lay out the real numbers plainly before you commit.
Can you help me sell my current yacht and buy another?
Yes — many owners come to us at exactly that point, ready to move up, down or simply on to a different type of boat, and handling both sides under one roof keeps the process clean. We start with an honest valuation of your current yacht and prepare it for sale — file, photographs, presentation — while running a bespoke search for the next boat in parallel, so the two can be timed to suit you. Both the sale and the purchase follow the MYBA standard, with deposits held in escrow and survey and sea-trial conditions that protect you on each side of the transaction. Because we know the brokerage market from Cannes to Antibes and Monaco, we can often line up viewings of candidate boats while your own is being shown. We will also be frank about timing: selling and buying rarely complete on the same day, and we will plan around any gap rather than rush either decision.