The median price for a home in the Hamptons hit a record $3 million in the first quarter, underscoring the lack of trophy beach homes for sale and the resilience of wealthy buyers.
The average selling price in the New York beach community rose 18% to $3.1 million in the first quarter, according to a report by Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The median price in the Hamptons is now more than $1 million above the median retail price in Manhattan. According to Miller Samuel, this is the widest gap between the two markets since data collection began in 2005.
The rise reflects the continued shortage of homes for sale, along with continued demand from affluent homebuyers looking for a piece of coveted Hamptons real estate. Brokers say the rich are still bidding and buying despite stock market volatility, rising mortgage rates, layoffs in the tech and financial sectors, and recession fears.
“We have more buyers than sellers,” said Todd Bourgard, CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Long Island, Hamptons and North Fork region. “The buyers are out there.”
The high end of the Hamptons market is the strongest. In the luxury market — which accounts for the top 10% of sales — both median and median selling prices broke records in the first quarter, with the median luxury price falling 33% to $16.1 million, according to Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller. dollar rose.
More than 14% of sales in the luxury market are the result of bidding wars, Miller said.
“The high-end remains unimpressed to a degree,” he said. “You have people who care less about the macro environment.”
A beachfront residence can be seen in East Hampton, New York.
Jeffrey Basinger | Reuters
The Hamptons saw a string of mega home sales in the first quarter. A 6.7-acre estate in East Hampton sold in March for $91.5 million, more than double its 2020 price. A 3,000-square-foot home in Montauk once owned by Bernie Madoff was sold for $14 sold millions of dollars. A contemporary 5,500-square-foot oceanfront home in Bridgehampton has sold in an off-market deal for around $35 million, realtors say.
Even small homes in the Hamptons fetch high prices: A mobile home in the community of Montauk Shores sold for $3.75 million.
However, the lack of homes for sale has caused a sharp drop in overall sales. According to Miller Samuel, first-quarter sales volume fell 57% to its lowest level in 14 years. While the stock of listed homes is up a third from the first quarter of 2022, the stock is still about half what it was before Covid, Miller said.
Realtors add that many of the current listings are overpriced, further reducing the number of homes for sale. Agents say that while demand from wealthy buyers is strong, they are price disciplined and are refusing to pay the peak prices of 2021 and early 2022.
“A lot of real estate that comes on the market isn’t priced right,” Miller said.
Realtors say sales could pick up over the summer as more homes come on the market.
“As we go into the spring and summer, I think the market is going to get stronger,” Bourgard said.