PARIS—In 2008, New York's auction market produced only $2.9 billion, down approximately 23 percent from a year ago and falling behind London, the new global leader in art auction sales. According to Artprice's 2008 Art Market Trends report, New York's share of global art sales fell from 43 to 35.6 percent. This reduction, in large part due to the overall economic climate, was exacerbated by extremely poor November sales that Artprice contends occurred largely because of the "over-optimistic estimates to which the auction houses still clung, imposing reserve prices that were quite simply too high."

Concurrently, London sales increased $271 million from 2007 to 2008, eclipsing New York's cumulative sales by $8 million, according to the report. London's overall numbers benefited strongly from the success of Damien Hirst's single-artist auction, "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever," and a July 1 Sotheby's contemporary art sale that garnered £80 million ($116 million), a record-setting result for a summer sale in Europe.

The report also indicates that China and France finished third and fourth, respectively, among worldwide auction turnover.