Billionaires such as Roman Abramovich are propping up the top end of the world’s Contemporary art market, while some cheaper pieces worth less than $500,000 are struggling to sell, according to a survey published today.

“Recession-proof” buyers such as Mr. Abramovich and the Al-Thani family of Qatar are making the market for the highest-quality items priced at $1 million and more, the London-based research company ArtTactic Ltd. said.

The wealthiest buyers operate independently from lower-priced areas, the biannual survey said. “Further down the price scale, things are looking more patchy,” it said.

Overall confidence in the market has shown little change after dropping 40% in the November 2007 survey, it said.

The May Contemporary sales in New York at Sotheby’s, Christie’s International, and Phillips de Pury raised a combined $971.5 million with fees. Russia’s Mr. Abramovich paid record prices of $86.3 million for a Francis Bacon painting and $33.6 million for a Lucian Freud picture, according to the Art Newspaper.

More than 60% of lots at Christie’s International’s day auctions of Contemporary art failed to achieve their low estimates, or were left unsold, according to ArtTactic.

“You have to take into consideration that we’re driven to increase prices with each sale,” Pilar Ordovas, Christie’s International’s London-based head of postwar and Contemporary art, said. “In some cases the lots might have sold toward the lower end of their estimates, but the prices would have been records for the artists.”

Next week, Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips de Pury will be holding sales of Contemporary art in London that are expected to fetch up to $650 million, according to figures released by the auction houses.

Lots that sold for $1 million and more accounted for about 70% of the total of Contemporary auction sales, based on Sotheby’s results between January and May 2008, ArtTactic said.