Escalating prices for large IPv4 number blocks, coupled with aggressive buyer acquisition strategies in the first half of 2017, stimulated considerable additional supply in the second half of the year, according to the 2017 State of the IPv4 Market Report released by Avenue4 LLC. At the end of 2017, the total number of transactions, aggregate address space transferred, and prices were all steeply up over the prior year even as global activity softened.

Market indicators show no sign that IPv6 adoption has had any adverse effect on IPv4 market activity. With demand still far exceeding supply, IPv4 numbers once trading for as little as $4 per number have recently sold for upwards of $17 to $18 per number (occasionally higher) notwithstanding the influx of large block inventory into the market. Unit prices across all block sizes rose steadily and should continue to climb in 2018.

Other key takeaways from Avenue4’s 2017 State of the IPv4 Market Report include:

• The small block market (transactions of fewer than 4,000 IPv4 addresses) is thriving and represents a growing portion of the total IPv4 market.
• The large block market (transactions greater than 1,000,000 IPv4 addresses) is currently leading the market in traded volumes and price, but could reach exhaustion within the next 24 months.
• Inter-regional transactions between buyers and sellers in the North American region and market participants in APAC and Europe are starting to slow.

“The IPv4 market has seen dramatic change in a relatively short time - from excess IPv4 supply and active trading in 2015, and supply scarcity with low transaction volumes in 2016, to a full recovery in 2017,” said Marc Lindsey, president and cofounder of Avenue4. “As the market matures, prices rise, and buyers are increasingly flexible in how they meet their demand, we expect that 2018 will be another strong year for the IPv4 market.”