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Home sales in the Hamptons have been weaker this year than they were in 2014, and new third-quarter housing reports show this trend continuing. Overall, however, the numbers might indicate a housing market that's starting to stabilize.
The number of sales in the third quarter fell 20 percent compared to the same period a year ago, from 634 to 507, according to a Douglas Elliman report prepared by Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers.
Meanwhile, the median sales price ticked up 9.8 percent, from $865,000 to $950,000. The listing inventory remained stable—at 1,710—resulting in a slower moving market.
While sales remained below last year's heavy volume, they are above long-term averages, the report states. The drop mostly reflects the high end of the market, $5 million and above, tapering off, said Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Douglas Elliman. In fact, the share of sales above $5 million was the lowest total in two years, pulling luxury price indicators lower.
I think that the rush for the Hamptons started a couple of years ago," Ms. Herman said over the phone, referring to high-end buyers grabbing what were good deals at the time, post-Recession. That part of the market has leveled off. "It dropped from last year, but ... it's still, overall, pretty active."
The outlier is the most recent pending sale of the former Andy Warhol estate in Montauk, which is hovering at the $50 million mark, Ms. Herman added. Although it went into contract in the third quarter, the final sale will be reflected in the fourth quarter.
With fewer big sales to skew the numbers, the Hamptons market is starting to level out. “I don’t think the pace will be the pace it was a year or two ago, so now it’s sustainable growth,” said Ms. Herman. “And that’s really what you want.”
Town & Country's third-quarter report also demonstrates a pullback from the heightened activity of 2014. Out of the 12 markets the brokerage highlighted, eight saw home sales decline. Montauk plunged 60 percent in home sales and experienced the greatest drop in total home sales volume of 65 percent—again, this does not reflect the pending Warhol sale.
All but one market saw total home sales volume decline. Sag Harbor Village managed to escape unscathed, with a 78.7-percent bump in total home sales volume compared to the same quarter in 2014.
Markets farther west went on a roller-coaster ride this quarter. Town & Country reports that Westhampton, Remsenburg, Westhampton Beach, East Quogue and Quiogue experienced the greatest decrease in home sales, at 64 percent, as well as the greatest increase in the median home sales price, at 35.4 percent.
Ultimately, the low end of the market "suffered" due to lack of inventory, while the high end languished because its demographic wanted to "'park' their money in the sidelines for now," the report states.
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on Oct 22, 2015