New City Set Resale Value

[TedZeppelin]

Do you think that the new city sets will have a hard time in a couple of years when they pop back up on ebay? Will any of them actually be worth buying into now, or are they something to try to find at a discount? I know that it's sort of risky buying now, just because of the sheer quantity of these sets. Let me know what you think. Also, are there any city sets that look to be potentially valuable in the future?

[legotrader]

Any large set in any theme stands to be somewhat successful in the secondary market. City sets are bought and played with by children...mostly. If you can find some large City sets(600-700 pieces or more approximately) like the new mining sets or some Police or Fire Station, they will go up, just not that fast.

Here is SET 7641 that is number 5 on the BRICK INDEX last month.

[quakerlaker91]

Do you think that the new city sets will have a hard time in a couple of years when they pop back up on ebay? Will any of them actually be worth buying into now, or are they something to try to find at a discount? I know that it's sort of risky buying now, just because of the sheer quantity of these sets. Let me know what you think.

Also, are there any city sets that look to be potentially valuable in the future?

I find it somewhat difficult to predict which City sets will do well down the road. Public Transportation (8404) for instance, is a neat set with a good price/part ratio and contains a variety of great vehicles. It has only recently been discontinued, but is still selling at retail price. Maybe it needs time, but still I am surprised that it has not exploded. When looking for City set investments, I look at re-releases, or ones very similar to older sets. Passenger Plane (7893) was discontinued a few years ago and boasts a nearly 300% return. It's almost exactly the same as the Passenger Plane (3181), which is currently still in production. This doesn't really make sense to me, but regardless, I will definitely be investing in 3181. The same can be said of the Lego City Harbour (7994). It was discontinued towards the end of 2008 and is being sold at 150% of the retail price. Harbour (4645), which is still in production, is again similar to 7994 and when it is discontinued I think it's safe to say will experience similar gains.

[TedZeppelin]

So you're saying that the vehicles that aren't typical like boats and planes are what will sell? Thanks for commenting!

[quakerlaker91]

So you're saying that the vehicles that aren't typical like boats and planes are what will sell? Thanks for commenting!

Yeah that's a pretty good way of putting it, but I don't mean to say any set with a boat or plane is going to do well. I think there are other themes that are better investments than City, such as Harry Potter or Star Wars, but City definitely has some money sets that will do well. I'd look at trends to see what those sets are. Since the old passenger plane is doing really well at the moment, I'd expect the one currently still in production to do well also once it's discontinued. Same with the old and new airport--they're pretty similar, so I'd expect them to follow similar trends if that makes sense.