It has almost been a year since the spectacular 14.6-carat Oppenheimer Blue diamond sold for a record-setting $57.5 million. The rare blue diamond, the sale of which was managed by auction house Christie’s for almost $4 million dollars a carat, is the most expensive blue diamond ever sold.

Since the sale in May 2016, demand for rare fancy colored diamonds has steadily increased, creating what many have called the year of the colored diamond.  With that said, colored diamonds have been progressively gaining value over the last decade and are considered one of the best hard assets a robust investment portfolio can have.

While Fancy Light Blue and Fancy Vivid Pink diamonds have made international headlines over the last two years for the amounts they have sold for, looking at historic data, the value of rare diamonds could potentially climb higher over the next five years.

Between 2009 and 2016, the price of pink diamonds has increased nearly 180 percent and currently sits at a record high. Blue and yellow diamonds have also gained value, with the price of both rising 70 percent and 90 percent, respectively.

The allure and luxury of fancy colored diamonds is universal, which makes them a coveted asset in a range of countries and cultures. In addition to being a status symbol, these exclusive fancy colored diamonds are easily portable and of high-value making them an ideal hard asset.

Demand for rare colored diamonds is expected to strengthen over the next decade as supply of the exquisite fancy colored diamonds becomes scarcer. Only 0.001 percent of diamonds mined each year qualify as “fancy” and even fewer earn the distinction of “vivid”, which refers to a highly saturated hue.

There are also very few mines that produce fancy colored diamonds, notes Paragon International Wealth Management, a Toronto-based firm that specializes in the acquisition and investment management of fancy colored diamonds, particularly pink diamonds.

The scarcity and rareness of these fancy colored diamonds makes them more precious and sought-after than their less illustrious white diamond counterparts.

“For every 10,000 white diamonds mined only one natural colored diamond will be found,” notes Paragon International Wealth Management. “This makes natural colored diamonds extremely rare and ideal for investment purposes.”

When you consider that only one fancy blue diamond is mined each year, and there are only 20 to 30 fancy reds known to exist, it is easy to understand why fancy colored diamonds are such a hot commodity.

This will be further compounded if the famous Argyle diamond mine, located in East Kimberley, Australia, closes in the next 24 months. The Argyle mine is the only known substantial source of pink diamonds, responsible for roughly 90 to 95 percent of the global supply.  Due to a rapid depletion in supply and escalating mining costs, the Argyle mine is expected to close in 2018, making the rare pink diamonds that have been mined there even more precious.