The IPv4 transfer market entered a new phase in the first half of 2026.
After several years of aggressive pricing, tight supply and strong infrastructure demand, the market has clearly reset. Prices are lower, buyers are more selective, and sellers are adjusting expectations.
But this is not a dead market.
In H1 2026, IPv4Center tracked 596 completed transactions covering 5,016,064 IPv4 addresses, with an estimated market value of $58.46 million.
The average price settled at $20.04 per IP, while the median held almost exactly at $20.00 per IP.
That combination matters.
It suggests the market is not being distorted by a small number of extreme outliers. Instead, the broader pricing distribution has shifted lower and may now be looking for a new floor.
This post is a summarized version of our full H1 2026 IPv4 Market Report.
👉 Read the full H1 2026 IPv4 Market Report on IPv4Center
Key figures — H1 2026
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Transactions | 596 |
| IP addresses traded | 5,016,064 |
| Average price / IP | $20.04 |
| Median price / IP | $20.00 |
| Estimated market value | $58,461,264 |
| RIR transfers | 3,972 |
| Buy-vs-lease payback | ~34 months |
The headline number is the $20.04/IP average.
Compared with H1 2025, IPv4 pricing is down sharply. However, total transaction count and traded IP volume remain healthy.
That makes H1 2026 one of the most interesting periods in recent IPv4 market history:
- buyers are getting better entry prices,
- sellers are still finding liquidity,
- lessees are paying a meaningful convenience premium,
- and block holders can still generate strong recurring income by leasing unused space.
A lower market, not a broken one
The main takeaway from H1 2026 is simple:
IPv4 prices corrected, but demand did not disappear.
The market is no longer pricing every block as if scarcity alone is enough. Buyers now care much more about quality, transferability, RIR region, blacklist history and operational usability.
A clean, transferable /24 in a high-demand region is still attractive.
A large block with poor reputation, unclear ownership history or transfer complexity is discounted much more aggressively.
In other words, the market is becoming more rational.
IPv4 is still a critical infrastructure asset, but the price now depends more heavily on the actual condition and usability of the block.
Pricing by RIR
H1 2026 also showed clear differences between RIR regions.
| RIR | Transactions | Avg $/IP | IPs Traded |
|---|---|---|---|
| RIPE NCC | 273 | $20.95 | 1,762,560 |
| ARIN | 290 | $18.95 | 3,110,144 |
| APNIC | 22 | $20.69 | 124,672 |
| LACNIC | 11 | $24.77 | 18,688 |
| AFRINIC | 0 | — | 0 |
ARIN remained the largest market by transaction count and total IP volume. It also had the lowest average pricing among active RIRs.
RIPE continued to trade at a premium to ARIN, supported by stronger European demand and RIPE’s 24-month transfer restriction, which limits short-term resale activity.
LACNIC showed the highest average price, but the sample size was small. That makes it hard to treat the LACNIC average as a broad global benchmark.
AFRINIC recorded no active priced market activity in this dataset.
The full report includes deeper RIR-level analysis, including median pricing, forecast by registry and official transfer activity.
👉 See the full RIR pricing analysis
/24 blocks remain the retail unit of the IPv4 market
The most traded block size in H1 2026 was the /24.
That is not surprising.
A /24 is still the practical minimum routable IPv4 block for most public BGP use cases. Many hosting providers, regional ISPs, SaaS platforms, enterprise networks and cloud infrastructure operators do not need a /16.
They need one clean, routable subnet that can be deployed quickly.
That keeps /24 blocks liquid.
It also keeps them expensive on a per-IP basis.
Larger blocks generally trade at a discount because fewer buyers can absorb them. A /16 requires more capital, more operational planning and a larger deployment strategy. As a result, bulk buyers often negotiate lower per-IP pricing.
The full report includes block-size pricing and forecast data for:
- /24
- /23
- /22
- /21
- /20
- /19
- /18–/16
- /15 and larger
👉 Read the full block-size analysis
Buy vs. lease: buying looks attractive for long-term use
One of the most practical parts of the H1 2026 report is the buy-vs-lease calculation.
At an average purchase price of $20.04 per IP and an average lease rate of $0.5859 per IP per month, a purchased IPv4 block pays for itself in approximately:
34.2 months
That is just under 2.9 years.
At the /24 level, the math looks like this:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| /24 purchase price | ~$5,130 |
| /24 lease price | ~$150 / month |
| Payback period | ~34.2 months |
| Gross annual yield | ~35.1% |
This does not mean every company should buy IPv4 space immediately.
Leasing still makes sense for short-term projects, migrations, temporary capacity, testing environments, or situations where upfront capital is limited.
But for infrastructure that will run for three years or more, buying becomes increasingly compelling.
For block holders, the same math is also important. If you own unused IPv4 space, leasing can turn an idle asset into recurring revenue.
The full report includes a complete buy-vs-lease and sell-vs-lease framework.
👉 Read the full buy-vs-lease breakdown
Forecast: more softness, but slower decline
Our model projects that IPv4 prices may continue to soften slightly through the rest of 2026.
| Period | Forecast |
|---|---|
| Next month | $20.04 / IP |
| December 2026 | $19.54 / IP |
This points to a modest decline, not a collapse.
The market has already absorbed a major correction. If the model holds, the second half of 2026 may be more about stabilization than another sharp reset.
That would place the medium-term equilibrium somewhere around the $19–20/IP range for broad market averages, while clean small blocks and scarce regional inventory continue to trade at premiums.
What this means for buyers
For buyers, H1 2026 is the most favorable environment in years.
Prices are materially lower than the previous cycle, and sellers are generally more realistic.
However, the cheapest block is not always the best block.
Before buying IPv4 addresses, buyers should verify:
- blacklist and spam database status,
- RIR transfer eligibility,
- current WHOIS records,
- historical routing,
- ROA / RPKI status,
- geolocation requirements,
- seller authorization,
- and escrow terms.
A low-cost block can become expensive if it has reputation issues or cannot be transferred cleanly.
In this market, due diligence matters more than ever.
What this means for sellers
For sellers, the market has clearly reset.
Waiting for 2021–2024 pricing to return may not be realistic in the short term.
If you hold unused IPv4 space, the decision is now more strategic:
- Sell and unlock liquidity.
- Lease and generate recurring yield.
- Hold and wait for a potential future recovery.
Selling may make sense if you need capital or want to avoid ongoing management.
Leasing may make sense if the block is clean, transferable and easy to manage operationally.
The key question is whether lease income can offset further price depreciation.
What this means for lessees
Leasing remains useful when flexibility matters.
If you only need IPv4 space for a short period, leasing is simple and capital-efficient.
But if you expect to use the same IPv4 capacity for more than three years, the economics become harder to ignore.
At current pricing, long-term leasing can become more expensive than buying.
For any deployment expected to last beyond 34 months, the buy-vs-lease calculation should be reviewed carefully.
Why IPv4 still matters
IPv6 adoption continues, but the internet still depends heavily on IPv4.
Many enterprise systems, hosting environments, cloud services, security tools, B2B integrations and legacy applications still require IPv4 reachability.
This dual-stack reality is likely to continue for years.
That is why IPv4 addresses still trade as infrastructure assets, even after a major price correction.
The market is not pricing IPv4 as a speculative asset anymore. It is pricing it based on real deployment demand, routing usability, transferability and block quality.
That is a healthier market structure.
Final thoughts
H1 2026 was a reset period for the IPv4 market.
The average price fell to $20.04/IP, but transaction activity remained strong. More than 5 million IPv4 addresses changed hands, and the market continued to show liquidity across ARIN, RIPE, APNIC and LACNIC.
The most important takeaway is this:
IPv4 prices are lower, but IPv4 remains valuable.
For buyers, this is a better entry point than the previous cycle.
For sellers, expectations need to adjust.
For lessees, long-term rental economics should be reviewed carefully.
For block holders, leasing remains a strong way to monetize unused inventory.
This post is only a summarized version of the full H1 2026 IPv4 Market Report.
The complete report includes:
- per-RIR pricing,
- block-size analysis,
- official RIR transfer activity,
- geographic activity,
- price forecast through December 2026,
- buy-vs-lease calculations,
- sell-vs-lease framework,
- IPv4 yield comparison,
- methodology,
- and frequently asked questions.
👉 Read the full report here:
IPv4 Market Report — H1 2026 on IPv4Center
Source: IPv4Center.com market data and RIR transfer statistics. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
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