If you and/or your client are looking for a vacation house in the Hamptons, you’re in luck. The number of listings in this string of seaside communities located on eastern Long Island’s South Fork known as a summer destination for affluent New Yorkers and celebrities have exploded.
According to the data-driven appraiser Miller Samuel, Inc. and the brokerage firm of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, there was an 82% increase in the number of listings of sale homes in Q4 2018 compared to Q4 2017. Meanwhile, the number of sales in the Hamptons dropped for the 4th straight quarter.
Why the discrepancy? Aspirational sellers and cautious buyers haven’t yet come to a meeting of the minds concerning home prices. Additionally, some consumers on both sides of the aisle are very concerned about the effects of 2017 tax law and its caps, rising interest rates, and about the investment viability of real estate compared to the stock market.
Purchases dropped -35% in Q4 2018, the biggest drop in the Hamptons since 2009 and unchanged for four of the last eight quarters, according to Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel.
Cia Commas, the Hamptons sales overseer for the brokerage Brown, Harris, Stevens, told Bloomberg News, “Sellers are going to start to reduce (their prices), and then similar properties will all start to reduce, and then you’ll see a number of transactions take place.”
A report from Brown, Harris, Stevens indicated that 34% of sales in Q4 2018 were priced between $500,000 and $1M.
According to Commas, the Hamptons market may be close to its bottom. “It’s hard to tell when you’re at the bottom. You don’t hear a thud. I think the sense among brokers out here is yes, we’re at the bottom, and now is probably a good time to encourage your buyers to make a move.”
Luxury properties in the Hamptons, the top 10%, saw its respective median prices increase +11% in Q4 2018 from Q4 2017 to $6.5M, according to a report by the Corcoran Group. Sales of +$5M homes doubled in East Hampton village, driving its micro-market median price to $5.1M, a 67% increase.
