With economic uncertainty and a construction industry largely supported by some key sectors, the used equipment market has shown a decline in prices in recent months which is expected to continue into the new year.
“We’re seeing declines in all categories of construction equipment, elevators and agricultural equipment,” says Brendan Gallagher, data analyst at industry analysis firm EquipmentWatch. But while there has been a steady decline in prices through 2025, used equipment in the construction auction and resale channels has been trending lower for some time, possibly showing softer long-term demand among contractors.
“Construction machinery [prices] they’re on a slide, it’s the only one [sector] that hasn’t slowed down in terms of price drops,” Gallagher says. The trend shows in the numbers, with resale construction equipment priced 7.64% lower than a year ago, and auction machines 18.58% over the same interval. There are also some notable indicators in what’s going into the resale channels, he adds, “one use could indicate that even though Gallagher is down,” he adds. Contractors don’t see a lot of work in the first half of 2026 worth holding onto aging machines that still have some life left in them.
Seasonal prices are still seen in the data. Prices are likely to rise next spring as new 2026 models enter the market and last year’s models enter the used equipment channels. “We are also interested to see if there will be any [Federal Reserve prime rate] cuts, as one would expect to see an increase in asking prices for equipment [with more favorable lending terms]Gallagher says.
For OEMs, it’s been a bit of an odd year, with much of the US construction market driven by data center construction work across the country. Caterpillar Inc. has seen a windfall from this narrow boom, with its power unit apparently carrying the Irving, Texas-based OEM’s balance sheet thanks to data centers’ never-ending hunger for its diesel generator sets.
In Cat’s third-quarter results released at the end of October, its energy and transportation division outpaced its construction equipment and resources and mining units in quarterly sales, and directly linked that jump to data centers getting generator sets, with construction revenue up 7% year-over-year and energy and transportation up 17% in the same interval.
“There’s a lot of demand, especially in power generation in today’s environment,” Andrew Bonfield, Cat’s chief financial officer, said in an Oct. 29 statement on the company’s third-quarter earnings. “But there is also a lot of spending on infrastructure, and this benefits both [our] construction industries and resource industries [segments] too.”
Profits in Cat’s construction and resources segments were down in the third quarter year-over-year, which Bonfield attributed to “the impact of higher manufacturing costs, primarily tariffs, and the impact of lower prices, partially offset by higher sales volume in these two segments.” By contrast, Cat’s energy and transportation segment saw profit growth of 17% to $1.7 billion, which Bonfield noted was despite tariff impacts that increased manufacturing costs.
