New Equipment Sales Are Surging While Used Values Soften — What That Means for Your Next Purchase

New Equipment Sales Are Surging While Used Values Soften — What That Means for Your Next Purchase

If you've priced a used excavator or skid steer recently and felt like the deal wasn't quite what it used to be, or noticed dealers pushing new inventory harder than usual, you're reading the market correctly. Two trends are colliding right now: new equipment sales from the major manufacturers are running well ahead of last year, while used equipment auction values have been sliding. That combination changes the buy-new-vs-buy-used math for a lot of contractors heading into 2026.

The Numbers Behind the Shift

• Caterpillar's Q2 2026 construction equipment sales were up roughly 24% year-over-year

• John Deere's Construction & Forestry segment posted about 18% year-over-year growth in Q3 FY2026

• Used equipment auction values were down roughly 18.2% in August 2026 compared to August 2024, per EquipmentWatch data cited in a recent ENR cost report

New equipment demand running that hot usually pulls used values up too, as buyers who can't get new inventory turn to the secondary market. What's happening instead is a genuine values pullback on used gear — a signal that the used market got flooded with supply as fleets that stocked up heavily during 2022-2024's parts and inventory shortages are now cycling that equipment back out, right as new production has caught back up to demand.

What This Actually Means If You're Buying Right Now

For a contractor deciding between a new machine and a well-maintained used one, this shift changes the calculus in a specific way: the traditional discount for buying used just got bigger, but so did the case for financing new. A softer used market means better deals if you're shopping used — more inventory, more negotiating room, sellers more motivated to move equipment. At the same time, strong new sales often come with manufacturer incentive financing (captive lenders competing for volume), which can bring the effective cost of a new machine closer to a used one than the sticker price alone suggests.

• Buying used right now: more inventory and softer prices mean real negotiating leverage, especially on machines with 2,000-4,000 hours that still have plenty of useful life left

• Buying new right now: watch for manufacturer-backed promotional rates that can offset a higher purchase price, especially on models moving in high volume like compact track loaders and mid-size excavators

• Either way: get a real total-cost-of-ownership number, not just a purchase price — financing terms, expected maintenance, and resale trajectory all matter more than the sticker

Resale Value Is the Part Contractors Often Underweight

A softening used market cuts both ways — it's good news if you're buying used today, but it's worth remembering when you're deciding what to buy new, because today's new purchase is tomorrow's used listing. Machines and brands that hold value best tend to be the ones with strong parts availability, wide dealer networks, and consistent demand across multiple equipment categories — which is part of why certain brands and model families keep showing up as the safer long-term buy even when they're not the cheapest option on day one.

If you're specifically comparing two current flagship machines head-to-head rather than new-versus-used in the abstract, our Kubota SSV75 vs. CAT 272D3 XE skid steer comparison and our Kubota SVL97-3 vs. Komatsu CK50-8 track loader comparison both dig into how two specific current-generation machines stack up, which matters as much as new-vs-used when you're picking a specific model.

The Financing Angle Nobody Talks About Enough

Whether you buy new or used, the financing structure matters as much as the purchase price. A used machine typically carries a shorter loan term and sometimes a slightly higher rate than a comparable new-equipment captive financing deal, since lenders view used collateral as depreciating faster and carrying more uncertain maintenance history. That's not a reason to avoid buying used — it's a reason to get your financing quote before you fall in love with a specific listing, so the total monthly cost is part of the decision from the start rather than a surprise at the end.

And if broader material and equipment cost trends are part of your planning for next year's purchases, our 2026 construction material and equipment cost breakdown is worth reading alongside this piece.

Reading Auction Data the Right Way

An 18.2% year-over-year drop in used auction values sounds dramatic in a headline, but it's worth understanding what's actually moving that number before you assume every used machine on a dealer's lot just got 18% cheaper. Auction indices blend every category and condition tier together — a glut of higher-hour, older-generation machines coming off big fleets pulls the average down harder than a modest softening in well-maintained, mid-hour equipment. If you're shopping a specific machine, the index tells you the market direction, not the exact price you should expect on that unit. Always cross-check an index trend against actual recent sale comps for the specific model, hour range, and region you're buying in.

Regional and Category Differences Worth Knowing

• Compact equipment (skid steers, mini excavators, compact track loaders) tends to hold value better than large-frame equipment, since demand spans a wider range of buyers from landscapers to general contractors

• Large-frame excavators and dozers see bigger swings in used pricing because the buyer pool is narrower and more sensitive to regional infrastructure and mega-project cycles

• Sun Belt and high-growth metro markets with heavy data center, warehouse, and residential construction activity are seeing tighter used inventory and firmer pricing than slower-growth regions

• Auction-heavy channels (large multi-seller auctions) tend to show more price volatility than dealer-to-dealer or direct fleet sales, where relationships and machine history carry more weight

What Experienced Buyers Are Doing Right Now

Contractors who've been through a few equipment cycles tend to treat a moment like this as an opportunity to negotiate rather than a reason to wait indefinitely for prices to fall further — because a market this fluid can just as easily firm back up once new-equipment lead times stretch out again or interest rates ease. The practical approach: get real comps on the specific machine you want, get a financing quote locked in (even a pre-qualification) so you can move fast when the right listing shows up, and don't assume the softest price point in the market is guaranteed to still be there in another quarter.

If you're weighing whether this is the right moment to add a machine to a growing fleet rather than replace an aging one, our guide to financing strategy for contractors moving from one machine to a small fleet covers how that decision differs from a straight replacement purchase.

The Machine Categories Seeing the Biggest New-Sales Growth

Not every equipment category is growing at the same rate, and knowing where the strongest new-equipment demand is concentrated helps explain where used values are softening fastest too. Compact track loaders and mid-size excavators — the workhorse categories for general contractors, landscapers, and utility subcontractors alike — are seeing some of the strongest new-unit growth industry-wide, which tracks with both CAT's and Deere's reported gains. That heavy new-unit volume is part of why used compact equipment in particular has softened: buyers who might have shopped used two years ago, when new inventory was harder to get, are now defaulting back to new given competitive captive financing and shorter lead times.

• Compact track loaders and skid steers: strong new demand, meaningfully softer used pricing as new inventory competes directly

• Mid-size excavators (20-30 ton class): steady new demand, moderate used softening

• Large-frame dozers and excavators: smaller buyer pool overall, so pricing swings are less tied to this broader trend and more to specific regional mega-project activity

• Dump trucks and haul trucks: demand tracks closely with overall construction and aggregate-hauling volume rather than following the compact-equipment pattern above

How to Actually Negotiate in a Market Like This

A softening used market and a strong new-sales environment both hand real leverage to a prepared buyer, but only if you walk into the conversation with the right information. On the used side, come with actual recent comps for the specific model, hour range, and condition you're targeting — not just the broad auction index — and don't be afraid to point out publicly available data showing the category-wide softening if a seller's asking price hasn't caught up to where the market has actually moved. On the new side, ask directly whether the dealer's captive lender has a promotional rate tied to moving current-quarter inventory, since that's exactly the kind of incentive that shows up when a manufacturer is posting strong sales growth and wants to keep the momentum going into the next quarter.

Either way, the worst position to negotiate from is urgency — needing a machine on a job site next week gives up most of your leverage regardless of which direction the broader market is moving. Contractors who plan replacement purchases a season ahead, rather than reactively when an old machine finally breaks down for good, consistently get better outcomes on both price and financing terms than contractors buying under pressure.

What Happens When This Trend Eventually Reverses

Markets like this one don't move in one direction forever, and it's worth thinking a step ahead. If new equipment sales growth eventually cools — whether from rate pressure, a broader construction slowdown, or manufacturers simply catching up fully on backlog — used values would likely firm back up as fewer buyers default to new. A contractor buying used today, in a softer market, is in a reasonable position either way: if used values stay soft, they got a fair deal; if used values firm back up over the next year or two as the cycle turns, they bought in ahead of that recovery. That's part of why a temporary values dip like this one is worth treating as a genuine buying window rather than a reason to wait indefinitely for prices to fall even further.

Putting It Together: A Simple Framework for Your Next Purchase

• Start with the job, not the machine: what work do you actually need this equipment to do, and for how long do you expect to keep it?

• Get real comps on both new and used options for the specific model and configuration you need

• Get a financing quote for each path before deciding — the after-financing total cost sometimes narrows the new-vs-used gap more than the sticker price suggests

• Factor in resale trajectory for whichever option you choose, since today's purchase is a future sale

• Move on a fair deal when you find one, rather than waiting for a theoretical better one that may not materialize on your timeline

The current market conditions — strong new sales, softer used values — won't last forever in this exact configuration, but the underlying discipline of comparing both paths honestly before committing to either one is worth applying every time you're in the market, regardless of which direction the broader trend is pointing in a given quarter.

Ready to Put This Equipment to Work?

BFC Equipment Loans has helped contractors across the country finance and lease exactly this kind of equipment. Visit our homepage to learn more about how we work, or head straight to our equipment financing application if you're ready to get started. Looking to buy or sell used equipment? Check out our equipment for sale and buy/sell marketplace. And if you want more deep dives like this one delivered straight to you, subscribe to the newsletter.