Art market returns beat equities in 2011

The art market posted stellar returns in 2011, with the Mei Moses All Art index returning 11%, outpacing leading equity indices.

This is the second successive year the art market has trumped stock market returns, with the index beating the S&P 500 in six of the last 10 years.

Last year the Mei Moses All Art index delivered 9% more than the S&P 500, driven by an uptick in demand from Chinese investors.

Michael Moses, creator of the index, said he is not surprised the art market has produced healthy returns despite eurozone woes spooking markets.

"Art prices are not correlated to sudden swings in stock markets but their prices tend to match changes in wealth creation and destruction. I am not surprised by this growth as we are not seeing the wealth damage of 2008-2009," said Moses.

The Mei Moses tracks the prices at which individual works of art sell over time using repeat sales data.

Over the past decade the index has an average return of 7.8%, while the S&P has posted a gain of 2.7%.