The “New IPv4 Norm” – IPv4 Transfers January 2022

A market stabilization

2022 begins with a market stabilization, albeit much lower than just 1 year ago.  ARIN’s IPv4 transfer requests for the month of January was 132 (as demonstrated by the dark blue bar graph below), which is still down -30% since the IPv4 crash in May of 2021.  More importantly, transfer requests are still down -20% compared to the average of the last 3 years.

It looks like the IPv4 transfer market has established the “New IPv4 Norm” as it relates to the demand on a monthly basis.  So what does that mean for prices moving forward?

Our team of analysts reviewed the IPv4 transfer statistics over the last 5 years to determine if there were any significant quarterly trends.  They found that 4 out of the 5 previous years, ARIN transfer requests increased significantly in the month of March.  This can be attributed to companies being cautious of spending their Q1 budgets to start the year, then offloading the remaining funds on their IPv4 needs.

Another potential reason could be related to the fact that many large corporations begin their fiscal year in February, therefore ramping up their spend into the month of March.

Economic uncertainties

With that said, there are economic uncertainties caused by the growing tensions of Russia waging war on Ukraine.  Global companies are typically hesitant to spend budgets during unstable times, such as our current climate.  It can be assumed that we will likely see a delayed influx in IPv4 demand.

However, similar to the volatility experienced during and after the Covid pandemic, prices may continue to increase.

Another point to consider is the continually post pandemic changing landscape of the world’s workforce.  With a diminishing impact from Covid, companies are still experiencing a work from home and/or hybrid demand.  This in turn is causing network and hosting providers to have an ever-increasing demand in IPv4 space.

With today’s IPv4 market stabilization and the “New IPv4 Norm”, this may be an optimal time to purchase IPv4 addresses your company may need for the future.  While the transfer market struggles, it is worth noting that Brander Group has continued to contribute to over 30% of January’s total transfer requests.

You can rely on our team of experts to handle your 2022 IPv4 strategy during these times of crisis and uncertainty.