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January CPF Revenues
Community Preservation Fund revenues across the East East shot up in January, reflecting that the Hamptons real estate market is starting 2020 off strong.
The five East End towns — Southampton, East Hampton, Southold, Riverhead and Shelter Island — brought in a total of $9.1 million during the first month of the year. That’s 66.4 percent more than the January 2019 haul.
In 2019, every single month saw less revenue than the same month a year before. Total revenue for the year was $77.9 million, a 21.3 percent decrease from 2018.
Each town maintains its own Community Preservation Fund, which raises revenue through a 2 percent tax on most real estate transactions. Watching CPF revenue is one way to monitor the level of overall activity in the East End real estate market.
“It is impossible to determine trends based on a single month of CPF revenues,” State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. noted in a statement. “At least a quarter of a year of data is required to determine whether the revenue increase for January marks a significant change. However, the revenue total of $17.69 million for the last two months is encouraging.”
Mr. Thiele was an original architect of the CPF, which has generated $1.47 billion in revenue since its inception in 1999, according to his office.
Of the past five Januaries, 2018’s saw the best performance, with $9.91 million in revenue. The low point of the five-year period came in January 2019, with just $5.47 million brought in.
More CPF revenue means the towns have more money to spend on land preservation — through purchases of the land itself or purchases of the development rights on parcels, and on debt service for previous purchases — and water quality improvement.
