Quick Data is a snapshot of new and used construction equipment sales trends from Randall-Reilly’s EDA equipment financing data, TopBid auction price service and EquipmentWatch market trend reports.
A total of 13,100 new excavators were financed from February 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023, according to Randall Reilly’s EDA equipment finance data. This was a 1.1% decrease from new units financed the previous year.
Used excavator sales were down more significantly to 13,403 units, from 15,470 units sold between February 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022.
The top-selling new models, based on the number of units financed, were the Cat 336 (609), Cat 315 (484) and the Deere 210G LC (415).
Deere’s 210G LC took the top spot for financed used excavator sales (403), followed by the Deere 350G LC (307) and Cat 336FL (261)
Texas had more buyers of new excavators than any other state with 1,428 units financed. Buyers were also active in Florida (936) and Georgia (714).
For those financing used machines, Texas buyers again were in the top spot, accounting for 12.1% of all purchases, with 1,626 units being financed in this period. Georgia added another 5.4% with 726 units, and North Carolina followed with 602 units or approximately 4.5%.
Used Excavator Sales
Used excavator prices fell during the 12-month period from February 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023, according to Randall Reilly’s EquipmentWatch market trend data.
The average price tag for a used excavator was $164,843 in February 2022 compared to $143,309 in January 2023. The average age of used excavators decreased slightly during the period from 7.4 years to 7.1 years. The average age and price were calculated on 221,180 resale listings during the period in the EquipmentWatch database.
Over the last five years, average prices for used excavators have in general increased, peaking at $165,424 in the first quarter of 2022.
Excavator 5-year price and age average from 2018 - 2023.EquipmentWatch
EquipmentWatch defines fair market value (FMV) as the monetary value of an asset that can be expected in a transaction with a single seller and single buyer, neither of whom is under any compulsion or time restriction to complete the transaction. FMV for heavy equipment is most closely associated with the private, resale market, as opposed to the public, auction market.
Excavator Auction Prices
Looking at the top 20 crawler excavators sold for the 12-month period of March 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023 in terms of auction price, only three manufacturers made the charts – Cat, Komatsu and Hitachi – with Cat claiming the most spots. (See chart below.)
As reported by the Top Bid auction price guide, 16 of the top 20 price spots were Cat models, the same quantity as the last time we reported on excavator sales data in June 2022. The size classes considered for this report are 10 metric tons or greater.
The top auction price paid for an excavator during this time was $570,000 for a 2019 Komatsu PC650LC-11 with 2,742 hours at a Ritchie Bros. sale in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 17, 2022.
The second-highest price paid was $560,000 for a 2019 Cat 325FLCR with 1,440 hours at a Blackmon Auctions sale in Granite City, Illinois, on November 15, 2022.
In total, 761 excavators were sold at auctions tracked by Top Bid during this time, with an average price of $134,580.
EDA data is compiled from state UCC-1 filings on financed construction equipment. EDA continually updates this data as information comes in from each state.
Top Bid, EquipmentWatch and EDA are owned by Randall Reilly, parent of Equipment World.
