IPv4 Address Market Heating Back Up – July 2023

The theme of today’s blog is…. let the good times keep rolling.

The IP market is heating up and we are finally beginning to see a very positive trend in IPv4 address demand.  The new baseline has changed over the past 4 months and is close to the consistency we have seen in the past when IPv4 prices were constantly on the rise.

However, it is important to also consider how much of a surplus is still available in the IP market to truly determine when prices might begin to stabilize and increase again. As we enter the halfway point in 2023, the average number of requests for IPv4 is 142 per month.

More importantly, the last 4 months of requests have increased to an average of 147.  This rolling average demonstrates healthy market stability with a +10% increase over last year’s average of 134 requests per month.

Year	Average Transfer Requests	Transfer Requests Change (Y/Y)	Average Price Per IP	Price Changes (Y/Y)
2019	166	0%	$20	+18%
2020	167	+.05%	$24	+20%
2021	156	-7%	$38	+58%
2022	134	-17%	$48	+26%
2023*	142	+6%	$43	-10%

While the average IPv4 demand over last year has been increasing, the average price is still down -10%.   This makes sense due to the larger-than-usual surplus of IPv4 addresses combined with limited demand for most of last year.  These two market swings, in conjunction with increasing interest rates, have caused IPv4 prices to collapse for the first time in history.  As the demand for IP addresses continues to stay healthy, and/or increase, IPv4 prices will more than likely rebound later this year and certainly in 2024.

At Brander Group, our team began the year with a massive surplus of IP address blocks of all sizes.  We had to increase our outbound sales efforts and adjust prices to meet market averages to start moving inventory.  With that said, our inventory has been quickly depleting, especially mid to large IPv4 blocks.  Therefore, just based on our own data, we anticipate prices will begin to increase purely based on the scarcity of IPs.  Are we heading towards a similar economic effect of the stock market in the roaring 20s?  As we all know, deploying CG-NAT and IPv6  can only address a portion of most network providers’ growth needs.  Furthermore, each option has its costs, implementation timelines, learning curves, and of course limitations.