After a decade of climbing, the market for IPv4 addresses looks like it is finding a ceiling. A fresh dataset published by Hilco Streambank shows North American IPv4 transactions moving from roughly $10 per address in early 2016 to nearly $20 by the end of 2018, then hovering near that level.
The dataset covers single and bulk block transactions in North America and Europe between January 2016 and March 2019, with flags for public and private deals. It is one of the clearer windows into a market that usually runs behind closed doors.
Who Should Care
| Stakeholder | Impact |
|---|---|
| Hosting resellers | IPv4 is no longer a free resource; carrying costs must be priced into shared, SSL, and mail offerings |
| Small businesses | Dedicated IPs for SSL or email now carry a measurable monthly cost that did not exist five years ago |
| IP brokers | The $20 plateau signals a matured secondary market; future moves depend on registry supply and IPv6 uptake |
| Enterprise IT | Legacy block valuations remain high, but buyers are thinning out at current price levels |
Background on a thin market
IPv4 exhaustion has been on the horizon for years. Regional registries started handing out their last blocks in the mid-2010s, and once that pipeline closed, the only way to get more addresses was to buy them from someone who held unused blocks. That created a quiet secondary market where pricing stayed opaque for a long time.
The most cited baseline is Microsoft's 2011 purchase of a chunk of Nortel assets at roughly $11.25 per address. Since then, public and private transactions, broker reports, and registry transfers have given the industry a rough sense of where the floor sits. Hilco's new dataset adds another data point: up, with some bumps, and now resting around $20.
Why it matters: flattening is the story
The plateau matters more than the price itself. A flat market signals that sellers are running out of buyers willing to push higher, and buyers are waiting for either a supply shock or a meaningful IPv6 acceleration to reset the math. Until one of those arrives, expect IP allocation fees to bleed into reseller margins in small increments that are easy to miss until they add up.
The dataset also flags whether each deal was public or private. Private block transactions may behave differently from the public headlines, so the true market average could sit slightly below what the chart implies. Watch for any future disclosures that separate those two streams more cleanly.
What to watch next
Three signals matter. First, whether the major registries publish transfer volumes again—supply is the lever. Second, whether any large ISP offloads a legacy block, which can temporarily shake the floor. Third, IPv6 adoption metrics at hosting control panels like cPanel, because every dual-stacked customer reduces IPv4 demand pressure on your business.
Worked example
Say a small hosting reseller has fifty clients who each want a dedicated IP for an SSL site. Two IPs per client at roughly $20 each works out to about $1.10 per IP per month amortised over three years—before any admin overhead. Stack that across fifty clients and it becomes a line item that did not exist five years ago. Build the cost into your hosting tier and stop treating IPs as free.
Key takeaways
- IPv4 prices rose from roughly $10 per address in early 2016 to near $20 by late 2018, based on Hilco Streambank data.
- The market appears to have flattened around $20, signaling a matured secondary market.
- Regional registries exhausted their free pools in the mid-2010s, driving all new demand into paid transactions.
- Resellers should factor IPv4 carrying costs into service tiers rather than absorbing or ignoring them.
- Key watch items: registry transfer volumes, large legacy block sales, and IPv6 adoption rates.
Frequently asked questions
Why are IPv4 addresses suddenly being traded?
Regional internet registries ran out of free blocks in the mid-2010s. After that, anyone who needed more addresses had to buy them from organisations that still held unused blocks, creating a formal secondary market.
How much does one IPv4 address cost now?
Hilco Streambank's data puts recent North American prices near $20 per address, up from roughly $10 in early 2016.
Does the $20 price apply worldwide?
The dataset covers both North America and Europe, with separate pricing behaviour for each region. North America is the segment most commonly quoted at around $20 by late 2018.
How does this affect small hosting resellers?
Every dedicated IP on a cPanel account, SSL host, or mail server now carries a real carrying cost. Resellers who absorbed these costs historically may need to restructure pricing tiers or flag the line item explicitly for clients.
Is the market still climbing?
The data suggests the upward climb has plateaued. Prices flattened around $20 by late 2018, though the market remains opaque and future movement will depend on supply, demand, and IPv6 adoption.