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This report analyzes the IPv4 transfer market for Second Half 2023, based on completed IPv4Center marketplace transactions and official RIR transfer records.
Executive Summary
The IPv4 transfer market in the second half of 2023 recorded 323 transactions covering 882,176 addresses for a combined value of $33.6 million. Average pricing came in at $35.37 per IP, down 13.9% from the first half of 2023 — a meaningful correction that accelerated a trend visible since mid-year. Despite the price decline, transaction volume surged 46.8% versus H1, suggesting that lower prices are pulling latent demand off the sidelines. The median held at $35.00, only slightly below the mean, indicating a relatively tight distribution around the central price. The market's overall trajectory is clearly downward, with a 2.85% sequential decline in the regression trendline.Market Overview
| Transactions | 323 |
| IP Addresses Traded | 882,176 |
| Estimated Market Value | $33,578,734 |
| Average Price / IP | $35.37 |
| Median Price / IP | $35.00 |
| RIR Transfers | 4,907 |
Price Dynamics
Prices ranged from $28 to $50 per IP during H2 2023, a $22 spread that reflects the persistent premium for clean, small blocks and the discount applied to large legacy allocations. The $28 floor appeared in RIPE transactions — the only region where pricing dipped below $30 — while the $50 ceiling was reached across RIPE, ARIN, and APNIC alike, typically on pristine /24s with no blacklist history. The 13.9% drop from H1's average is the steepest half-over-half decline we've tracked in recent periods, and it coincides with the AWS public IPv4 charge that went live in February 2024 but was announced in July 2023. That announcement effectively repriced the market's expectations: holders who had been sitting on blocks began moving inventory, and buyers recalibrated what they were willing to pay. The regression trend confirms the direction — prices ended the half weaker than they started.
Pricing by RIR
ARIN dominated deal flow with 55.7% of transaction volume, but it was LACNIC that posted the highest average price per IP at $36.60. The ARIN-RIPE pricing gap has narrowed to under a dollar — $35.87 versus $34.93 — which is the closest convergence we've seen between these two registries. APNIC came in cheapest at $33.93, reflecting both thinner liquidity and a buyer base that has grown more price-sensitive as regional alternatives (including leasing) gain traction.ARIN: $35.87/IP across 180 transactions (55.7% of volume).
RIPE: $34.93/IP across 101 transactions (33.0% of volume).
APNIC: $33.93/IP across 37 transactions (7.5% of volume).
LACNIC: $36.60/IP across 5 transactions (1.6% of volume).
AFRINIC: No recorded transactions this period.
| RIR | Transactions | Avg $/IP | Median $/IP | IPs Traded | RIR Transfers | Next Month (proj.) | Year-End (proj.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIPE | 101 | $34.93 | $35.00 | 291,328 | 3,235 | $31.50 | $30.00 |
| ARIN | 180 | $35.87 | $35.75 | 510,720 | 1,672 | $34.50 | $34.00 |
| APNIC | 37 | $33.93 | $33.00 | 66,048 | 0 | $32.50 | $32.00 |
| LACNIC | 5 | $36.60 | $38.00 | 14,080 | 0 | $34.00 | $33.00 |
Transaction Volume
Supply & Block Sizes
The /24 remained the most traded prefix size with 130 transactions — roughly 40% of all deals. This dominance reflects the structural reality that smaller operators, startups, and enterprises overwhelmingly need a single /24 to run mail servers, host websites, or anchor a BGP announcement. Larger blocks (/20 and above) traded less frequently but accounted for a disproportionate share of dollar volume, with the seven deals exceeding $1 million representing $10.4 million, or 31% of total market value.
Geographic Activity
Country-level distribution data was not captured for this period. Anecdotally, U.S. and Western European entities continued to drive the bulk of activity, consistent with ARIN and RIPE accounting for nearly 89% of transactions between them.Registry Transfer Activity
Official RIR transfer logs recorded 4,907 transfers during H2 2023 — a figure that captures both market sales and intra-organizational restructurings. RIPE led the transfer registries with 3,235 recorded transfers (65.9% of the total), dwarfing ARIN's 1,672. The gap between RIPE's transfer count and its transaction share in our pricing data (31.3%) reflects the high volume of non-market transfers — mergers, group reorganizations, and policy-driven movements — that are endemic to the RIPE region.Long-Run Transfer Trends
Over the trailing 12 months through the end of H2 2023, a total of 9,189 transfers were logged across all RIRs. October 2023 was the peak month, which aligns with a pattern we've seen in prior years: Q4 budget flush drives a spike in both transfers and acquisitions as enterprises deploy remaining capex. RIPE accounted for 64% of the 12-month transfer total versus ARIN's 36% — a ratio that has been remarkably stable for several consecutive periods.| RIR | RIR Transfers |
|---|---|
| RIPE | 5,879 |
| ARIN | 3,310 |
| RIR Transfers | 9,189 |
Outlook & Forecast
Forecasting each block-size band and RIR separately with our AI model:
The overall average price per IP is projected to reach $33.03 by December 2023, with a next-month estimate of $33.53 per IP.
- RIPE: projected at $31.50 per IP next month, trending toward $30.00 by December 2023.
- ARIN: projected at $34.50 per IP next month, trending toward $34.00 by December 2023.
- APNIC: projected at $32.50 per IP next month, trending toward $32.00 by December 2023.
- LACNIC: projected at $34.00 per IP next month, trending toward $33.00 by December 2023.
- AFRINIC: insufficient data for a reliable forecast.
Forecast by Block Size
| Block | Current $/IP | Next Month | Year-End | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /24 | $34.00 | $34.00 (0.0%) | $33.00 (-2.9%) | medium |
| /23 | $32.50 | $32.00 (-1.5%) | $31.00 (-4.6%) | medium |
| /22 | $33.00 | $33.00 (0.0%) | $33.00 (0.0%) | medium |
| /21 | $33.25 | $33.00 (-0.8%) | $32.00 (-3.8%) | low |
| /20 | $32.50 | $33.00 (+1.5%) | $34.00 (+4.6%) | medium |
| /19 | $34.50 | $34.00 (-1.4%) | $34.00 (-1.4%) | low |
| /18-/16 | $37.50 | $37.50 (0.0%) | $39.00 (+4.0%) | low |
| /15-up | $51.50 | $51.00 (-1.0%) | $53.00 (+2.9%) | low |
Editor's Take: Buy vs. Lease
The buy-versus-lease calculus tilted firmly toward buying in H2 2023. At $0.5859 per IP per month on the lease side and $35.37 on the purchase side, the breakeven sits at roughly 60 months — just over five years. Any entity planning to hold addresses beyond that horizon is better off buying outright. The implied annual yield for lessors is 19.9%, which remains attractive enough to keep a supply of leased blocks on the market but is down from peak levels as purchase prices have fallen faster than lease rates have adjusted. For organizations needing space for three years or less, leasing still makes economic sense. But for ISPs, hosting companies, and anyone building infrastructure with a five-plus-year useful life, purchase at current levels looks like the right call — especially if prices continue to soften into 2024.| /24 Purchase price | $9,055 |
| /24 Lease price | $150 / mo |
| Payback period | 60.4 mo (5.0 yr) |
| Gross annual yield | 19.9% |
What This Means for You
Buyers: You're operating in the most favorable pricing environment since early 2021. The 13.9% drop from H1 gives you real negotiating leverage, and the forecast suggests further softening into early 2024. Don't rush — but don't expect a collapse either. The floor is probably somewhere in the low $30s.Sellers: The window for extracting $40+ per IP on standard blocks is closing. If you're holding inventory that you acquired above current market, your exit calculus needs to account for continued price erosion. Moving blocks now at $35-36 beats holding for a $33 print next quarter.
Leasers: At $0.59/IP/month, leasing remains viable for short-duration needs. But the gap between lease economics and purchase economics has widened — if your planning horizon exceeds five years, the math clearly favors ownership.
Block Holders: If you have unused legacy space, the 19.9% annualized yield from leasing is compelling. That said, accelerating price declines could erode the capital value of your holdings. Consider a blended strategy: lease a portion for income, sell a portion to lock in current valuations.
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IPv4 Pricing by Block Size
The per-IP premium on /24 blocks remained significant — buyers routinely paid $40-50 per IP for clean single /24s, while larger blocks in the /20 to /16 range traded closer to $30-33. This 30-40% premium for /24s reflects the scarcity of clean, immediately usable small blocks and the operational overhead of managing a single-block transaction versus a bulk purchase. For budget-conscious buyers, a /22 or /21 at $33-34 per IP and then subnetting to /24s can be a materially better deal.| Block | IPs | Buy: /IP | Buy: Total | Lease: /IP/mo | Lease: Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /24 | 256 | $35–45 | $8,960–11,520 | $0.38–0.50 | $97–128 |
| /22 | 1,024 | $28–38 | $28,672–38,912 | $0.33–0.45 | $338–461 |
| /20 | 4,096 | $22–32 | $90,112–131,072 | $0.30–0.40 | $1,229–1,638 |
| /18 | 16,384 | $20–30 | $327,680–491,520 | $0.30–0.38 | $4,915–6,226 |
| /16 | 65,536 | $18–28 | $1,179,648–1,835,008 | $0.30–0.35 | $19,661–22,938 |
IPv4 Price History: 2011–2026
IPv4 addresses first became a traded commodity in 2011 following IANA's final allocation of /8 blocks to the RIRs. Prices started below $10 per IP and climbed steadily through the 2010s, accelerating sharply in 2021 to peak near $55-60 per IP on some transactions. AWS's July 2023 announcement that it would begin charging $0.005/hour ($3.60/month) per public IPv4 address marked a turning point — it both created a new source of demand for owned space and simultaneously signaled to the market that the era of free addressing was over. Prices have since bifurcated: small clean blocks still command premiums, but the broad average has corrected roughly 35% from peak levels.| Year | ~Price/IP | Key Event |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | $7–12 | IANA free pool exhausted; Microsoft/Nortel deal ($11.25/IP) |
| 2012 | $8–12 | RIPE NCC reaches last /8; begins /22-only allocation |
| 2014 | $10–15 | LACNIC free pool exhausted |
| 2015 | $8–15 | ARIN free pool exhausted |
| 2017–18 | $12–18 | Leasing market grows; cloud demand rises |
| 2019 | $18–24 | RIPE NCC exhausts remaining free pool |
| 2021–22 | $50–60+ | Post-pandemic peak; hyperscaler build-outs |
| 2024 | $35–52 | AWS IPv4 charge ($0.005/IP/hr); large block correction |
| 2025–26 | $18–45 | Market bifurcation; /16s below $20 for first time since 2019 |
Market Structure: Who Is Buying & Selling
The buyer side in H2 2023 was dominated by mid-tier cloud providers, regional ISPs, and hosting companies — entities that need routable space but lack the scale to justify the hyperscaler approach of hoarding /8s. On the sell side, the usual suspects: legacy corporate holders divesting unused allocations from the pre-CIDR era, bankruptcy estates, and early speculators who bought at $25-30 and are taking profits before prices fall further. The 46.8% jump in transaction count suggests that sellers are becoming more motivated, which is consistent with a market that expects lower prices ahead.IPv4 vs. Other Asset Classes
At a 19.9% implied annual yield from leasing, IPv4 addresses outperform virtually every conventional asset class — 10-year Treasuries at ~4.5%, investment-grade corporate bonds at 5-6%, and even most real estate cap rates at 5-8%. The catch is liquidity: selling a block takes weeks to months, not seconds, and the market has no centralized exchange or clearing mechanism. Still, for investors comfortable with illiquid alternative assets, the risk-adjusted return on a clean /16 held for lease income is hard to beat in the current rate environment.| Asset Class | Typical Yield | Liquidity | Primary Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPv4 | 19.9% | Moderate | IPv6 adoption, block quality |
| Commercial Real Estate | 5–8% | Low | Vacancy, rate cycle |
| Investment-Grade Bonds | 4–5% | High | Duration, credit risk |
| S&P 500 | ~1,3% | High | Market volatility |
| Money Market / T-Bills | ~4–5% | High | Rate cycle changes |
IPv6 Adoption & Why IPv4 Remains Essential
IPv6 adoption continues its glacial march — Google's IPv6 connectivity measurements crossed 40% globally in late 2023, but the number obscures massive regional variation. Large consumer ISPs in the U.S. and Europe have deployed dual-stack broadly, yet enterprise networks, SMB hosting, and IoT deployments remain overwhelmingly IPv4-dependent. The coexistence phase will extend well into the 2030s, which means IPv4 addresses retain fundamental utility value regardless of IPv6 progress.AI & Cloud Infrastructure Demand
The AI infrastructure buildout is a net positive for IPv4 demand, though its impact is more indirect than headlines suggest. Large training clusters typically sit behind NAT or use private addressing, but the inference layer — API endpoints, edge deployments, model-serving infrastructure — requires publicly routable space. As every major cloud and enterprise spins up inference capacity, the incremental demand for /24s and /23s to front these services is real and growing.What Determines IPv4 Block Value
Not all IPv4 blocks are created equal. Blacklist contamination — from prior use in spam, botnet C2, or bulletproof hosting — can knock 20-30% off a block's value and add weeks of remediation work. Allocation age matters too: blocks with long, clean WHOIS history command premiums. RIR jurisdiction affects transferability, with ARIN and RIPE blocks being the most liquid and AFRINIC blocks effectively untradeable given the ongoing governance crisis. A clean /24 with no spam history, held in ARIN or RIPE, sitting on a legacy allocation, is the gold standard.Sell vs. Lease: A Decision Framework
For holders sitting on unused blocks in a declining price environment, the sell-versus-lease decision hinges on your view of the next 24-36 months. If you believe prices will stabilize around $30-32, leasing at $0.59/IP/month generates better cumulative returns than a sale within three years. But if you think the AWS effect and growing IPv6 adoption will push prices into the mid-$20s, selling now at $35 and redeploying capital elsewhere is the sharper move. The 19.9% lease yield buys you time, but only if the underlying asset doesn't depreciate faster than your income stream.| /24 Purchase price | $9,055 |
| /24 Lease price | $150 / mo |
| Payback period | 60.4 mo (5.0 yr) |
| Gross annual yield | 19.9% |
RIPE NCC 24-Month Transfer Restriction
RIPE's 24-month holding requirement — which prevents a transferee from re-selling a block for two years after acquisition — continues to act as a supply brake in the European market. It discourages speculation and fast flipping, which keeps RIPE pricing slightly more stable than ARIN's but also reduces liquidity. Buyers in the RIPE region should factor this lock-up into their planning, especially if there's any chance they'll need to divest within two years.Deal Size Distribution
Average deal size dropped sharply to $103,959 from $165,410 in H1 — a 37% decline that signals a shift toward smaller transactions. The bulk of activity (245 of 323 deals) fell below $50,000, accounting for only $4.5 million of the $33.6 million total. Meanwhile, the seven deals above $1 million generated $10.4 million — 31% of total value from just 2% of transactions. This top-heavy value distribution is typical of IPv4 markets, where a handful of large block trades drive aggregate numbers while the /24 market churns steadily underneath.Top Trading Countries
Country-level granularity is not available for this period's dataset. Based on RIR distribution, ARIN-region activity (predominantly U.S. and Canada) accounted for 55.7% of deals, with RIPE-region countries (led by the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK based on historical patterns) making up another third. APNIC-region deals, likely concentrated in Australia and parts of Southeast Asia, represented a smaller but consistent slice at 37 transactions.BEAD Broadband Program Impact
The $42.5 billion BEAD program began issuing state-level allocations in H2 2023, and the downstream IPv4 demand from funded ISP buildouts is still ahead of us. Most BEAD-funded projects will require /22 to /20 blocks to address new subscriber bases in underserved rural areas, which will tighten supply in precisely the mid-range block sizes where liquidity is already thin. We expect BEAD-driven purchasing to become a visible market factor by mid-2024, potentially creating a floor under prices for blocks in the /20 to /18 range.Hyperscaler IPv4 Holdings
Amazon, Microsoft, and Google collectively control an estimated 100+ million IPv4 addresses — enough to influence the market simply by choosing to hold, sell, or lease at the margins. AWS's decision to charge for public IPv4 addresses was the single most consequential market event of 2023, and its ripple effects are still propagating through buyer and seller behavior. If any of the hyperscalers were to begin divesting even a fraction of their holdings, it would add meaningful supply and accelerate the downward price trend.Macroeconomic Conditions & Market Impact
Higher-for-longer interest rates throughout H2 2023 increased the carrying cost of holding IPv4 as a non-yielding asset (for those not leasing), which likely contributed to the uptick in sell-side activity. Enterprise IT budgets remained cautious — Gartner's spending forecasts showed 3-4% growth, barely keeping pace with inflation — and many organizations deferred non-critical infrastructure purchases. The combination of motivated sellers and budget-constrained buyers is precisely the dynamic that drives prices lower, and it's unlikely to reverse until rate cuts materially loosen financial conditions.Model Update & Calibration
As part of our continuous improvement process, we backtested previous forecasts against realised prices and fine-tuned the model accordingly. Recent months now carry more influence than older data, and the confidence bands have been widened or narrowed based on how well they captured actual outcomes in the past. You can see the full backtest results in the table and chart below.
| Report Period | Target Month | Predicted | Actual | Deviation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-04 | $42 | $39 | +8% |
| 2023-H1 | 2023-07 | $37 | $36 | +2% |
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-07 | $37 | $36 | +1% |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-10 | $35 | $35 | 0% |
Methodology
Figures are based on completed IPv4Center marketplace transactions and RIR transfer statistics. Prices are in US dollars per IP address. Forecasts are produced by an AI model that analyses each block-size band and RIR segment separately (with outlier-trimmed medians) alongside known market catalysts; they are estimates, not guarantees.
Data Sources
- Hilco Streambank — Completed auction transaction records
- RIPE NCC — Inter-RIR and intra-RIR transfer statistics
- ARIN — North American transfer reports and waiting list data
- APNIC — Asia-Pacific transfer records
- LACNIC — Latin American and Caribbean transfer data
- IPv4Center.com — Proprietary marketplace transaction and lease pricing data
This report is generated automatically for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the average IPv4 price in Second Half 2023?
During Second Half 2023, IPv4 addresses traded at an average of $35.37 per IP, with a median of $35.00.
Which RIR had the most expensive IPv4 addresses in Second Half 2023?
LACNIC recorded the highest average per-IP price during Second Half 2023.
What's the IPv4 price forecast looking like?
Based on regression analysis of historical data, per-IP pricing is projected near $33.03 by December 2023. Keep in mind this is a projection, not a guarantee.
Should I buy or lease IPv4 right now?
At current price levels, buying pays back in roughly 60.4 months of equivalent lease payments. Below about 90 months, buying usually makes better long-term sense; above that, leasing helps preserve capital.