Young collectors are fuelling a boom in Basquiat-backed loans

That is because there has been a boom in “art-secured lending”. Until recently this was only available to the wealthiest clients of private banks. In the past five years, though, auction houses and boutique lenders have become more involved. Deloitte, a consultancy, reckons that such outfits increased their lending by 119% over the period, compared with a 31% rise at banks. Last year non-banks doled out as much as $8bn against art and collectibles, or 23% of all such loans, up from 15% in 2019.