Used Heavy Equipment Price Trends Heading Into 2027: What Contractors Should Know Before Their Next Purchase

Every contractor timing a used-equipment purchase is really asking one question: is now a good time to buy, or should I wait? The honest answer for late 2026 is that used heavy equipment pricing has actually softened, which changes the calculus for anyone sitting on the fence about financing a used excavator, dozer, or wheel loader right now. Here's what the real data says, not a guess dressed up as market insight.

The Year-Over-Year Number That Matters

According to EquipmentWatch data reported in ENR's Q2 2026 cost report, used construction and lift equipment prices fell 5.52% in resale value and 10.89% at auction, year over year. That's a real, measurable softening, not a rounding error -- and it follows a pattern analyst Brendan Gallagher described directly: prices tend to rise early in the year as newer used units enter the market, then flatten out by mid-year as that inventory gets absorbed. The broader trend over the past several years has been a slight, steady slippage in used-equipment values rather than a sharp crash, which matters because it tells you this is a market trend, not a one-time event.

Why Prices Are Softening While New-Equipment Sales Climb

Here's the part that surprises a lot of contractors: used equipment values are softening at the same time new-equipment sales are rising. John Deere's construction and forestry segment posted a 29% year-over-year increase in net sales in the same reporting period. That's not a contradiction -- it's two sides of the same coin. When new-equipment sales are strong, trade-ins and lease returns flow back into the used market in greater volume, and more supply with steady or softening demand is exactly what pushes used prices down. Deere's own Chris Seibert put it simply: “The fundamentals behind the construction industry remain favorable,” meaning this isn't a demand collapse -- it's a supply-driven adjustment in the used channel specifically.

A Tariff Wrinkle Worth Knowing

Tariffs on certain imported equipment categories, including bulldozers, scrapers, graders, and some forklifts, were lowered from 25% to 15% effective June 8, 2026 -- a real policy change that eases new-equipment cost pressure for those specific categories. That matters to the used market too, because new-equipment pricing and tariff policy directly influence how much trade-in and lease-return inventory flows into the used channel. A tariff reduction that makes new equipment relatively more affordable can, over time, pull some buyers away from the used market, which is a dynamic worth watching into 2027 rather than assuming the current softening trend continues indefinitely.

What the Data Doesn't Tell You About Any Single Machine

Aggregate market data like the figures cited throughout this piece describes a broad trend across thousands of transactions, which is genuinely useful for understanding overall market direction but doesn't predict what a specific used machine you're looking at today will actually sell for. Condition, hour count, service history, and regional demand for that exact model all matter more than the national average when you're negotiating a specific deal. Use the broad trend to inform your overall timing and negotiating posture, but get a real, machine-specific appraisal or dealer quote before making a final decision on any individual purchase.

How This Plays Out Differently by Equipment Category

The resale and auction softening the ENR report describes is an aggregate figure across construction and lift equipment broadly, which means it doesn't necessarily apply evenly to every category. Equipment categories tied to tariff-affected imports -- dozers, scrapers, graders, and certain forklifts -- are the ones most directly connected to the June 2026 tariff reduction mentioned above, which means any used-market effect from that policy change is likely to show up first and most clearly in those specific categories rather than uniformly across excavators, wheel loaders, and skid steers as a whole. A contractor shopping a specific equipment category should look for category-specific pricing data from their dealer or an equipment valuation service rather than assuming the broad aggregate trend applies identically to the exact machine they're shopping.

What Rising Fuel Costs Could Do to Rental Rates

One more wrinkle: the same report notes that rising diesel costs aren't yet showing up meaningfully in used-equipment sale prices, but analyst Gallagher pointed out they're far more likely to show up in rental rates, since “fuel prices are typically cooked into the hourly rental rates.” If you're weighing renting against buying right now, that's a real factor pointing toward ownership -- a softening used-equipment market paired with rental rates that may climb as fuel costs rise is a combination that favors buyers, not renters, heading into next year.

Why Buying Now Beats Trying to Time the Absolute Bottom

Contractors sometimes delay a used-equipment purchase hoping to catch the exact bottom of a softening market, but that's a difficult, often counterproductive strategy, since the data above shows multiple forces pulling in different directions at once rather than a single, clean downward trend you can confidently wait out. A machine you genuinely need for upcoming work has a real opportunity cost sitting idle on a lot while you wait for a marginally better price that may or may not materialize, and that lost production time is itself a cost worth weighing against any additional savings from waiting.

What a Softening Market Means for Financing Terms, Not Just Price

A softer used-equipment market affects more than the sticker price you negotiate -- it can also affect how a lender values the collateral backing your loan. When used-equipment values are declining year over year, a careful lender's appraisal reflects that trend, which generally means the appraised collateral value on a given used machine is a bit more conservative than it would have been a year or two ago when values were flatter or rising. That's not a reason to avoid financing a used purchase right now; it's simply a reason to expect the appraisal conversation to be grounded in current market reality, and to come to that conversation with realistic expectations about where a specific machine's value actually sits today rather than where a seller's asking price assumes it sits.

What This Means for Timing Your Next Purchase

A softening used market isn't automatically a reason to wait -- it can just as easily be a reason to move now, before new-equipment tariff relief potentially tightens used supply again, and before rental rates climb with fuel costs. Contractors who've been renting because a purchase felt out of reach may find the math has shifted in their favor on used equipment specifically. Equipment financing through BFC is built for exactly this decision point: nationwide approvals for startups and established businesses, good or bad credit, on new and used equipment across our full list of approved manufacturers, so the financing conversation can happen on your timeline instead of forcing you to wait and hope prices keep moving your direction.

What to Watch Going Into 2027

The combination of factors described above -- softening used values, rising new-equipment sales feeding more trade-in supply, a partial tariff reduction on specific equipment categories, and rising fuel costs that haven't yet shown up in sale prices but may show up in rental rates -- doesn't point to a single, obvious direction for 2027 pricing. It points instead to a market with several real forces pulling in different directions at once, which is exactly the kind of environment where staying informed quarter to quarter matters more than assuming any one trend will simply continue in a straight line. Checking in on updated EquipmentWatch or ENR cost reporting every quarter, rather than relying on a single data point from months ago, is a reasonable habit for any contractor planning a used-equipment purchase in the coming year.

What Regional Variation Could Mean for Your Specific Market

National aggregate figures like the ones cited above are useful for understanding the overall direction of the market, but used-equipment pricing has always varied meaningfully by region, driven by local supply, regional construction activity levels, and even how many dealers and auction houses are actively serving a given area. A national resale softening doesn't guarantee the same softening shows up identically in every regional market, and a contractor shopping locally should weigh what their own regional dealers and auction results are actually showing alongside the national trend, rather than assuming the two always move in lockstep.

Who Should Be Paying Attention to This

Any contractor planning a used-equipment purchase in the next two to three quarters should factor this data into timing, particularly general contractors, excavation subs, and demolition contractors who regularly cycle used excavators, dozers, and wheel loaders through their fleets. Startups entering the market for the first time benefit from knowing that used pricing has room to be negotiated right now, rather than assuming asking prices are fixed.

• Used construction/lift equipment: resale down 5.52% and auction down 10.89% year over year (EquipmentWatch via ENR, Q2 2026).

• New-equipment sales are rising even as used prices soften -- more trade-in supply is a key driver.

• Tariffs on dozers, scrapers, graders, and some forklifts dropped from 25% to 15% effective June 8, 2026.

• Rising diesel costs aren't yet in used-equipment prices but may push rental rates up -- a point in favor of buying over renting.

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