East End Real Estate Appraisals Stand Strong Post-Sandy

There isn’t much that can dissuade determined vacationers from buying on the East End. And Hurricane Sandy is no exception to that rule.

Though it’s early—a mere three weeks after the super storm devastated the beaches of the South Shore—real estate experts are saying that property values here haven’t taken a hit. On the contrary, they are still soaring high and show no signs of dropping. Earlier this month, Harald Grant, senior vice president and associate broker for Sotheby’s International Realty listed a five-bedroom, five-bathroom, 7,000-square-foot oceanfront manse in the private Murray compound in Southampton for $30 million, approximately a week following the hurricane. During a telephone interview on Thursday, Mr. Grant reported that there had been “multiple offers already.”

The property’s guest house abuts the dune, which, despite recent events, will always be a major selling point, according to Hampton Bays-based appraiser Craig Tufano of Tufano & Associates.

“Some people may be turned off by the possibility of their home being damaged by a storm when talking about living on or very close to the water, but there will always be a strong market for these type of properties,” he explained in an email last week. “People want to be close to the water. They want to live on Dune Road, Meadow Lane, Further Lane. That’s what helps drive our values on the East End. The closer you get to the water, the land value generally increases. Maybe in other places, this might not be true, but that’s the case on the East End of Long Island.”

Historically, natural disasters—including hurricanes, nor’easters and blizzards—haven’t hurt property values in the Hamptons, or at least not for a significant amount of time, Mr. Tufano said. Generally, if a home is damaged by a downed tree or flood, it is quickly repaired. In fact, listing prices can often increase following a storm, he said.

“When the [West Hampton] Dunes were hit hard in the ’80s, the values dropped, but that’s when it was thought the area wasn’t going to be rebuilt/repaired,” he said. “The beaches and dunes were replaced, jetties added, the infrastructure repaired and the place took off again. Look at it now. Bigger and better homes replace the ones that are lost.”

Overall, Sandy left the majority of the East End real estate inventory unscathed, according to Aspasia Comnas, executive managing director of Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons. It was a lucky break, she said during an email exchange last week, though in the past, Wall Street and the economic downturn have impacted property values more than any storm.

“The properties that we have deals on or that were in contract did not have much damage and just a small delay while the banks and/or insurance companies reinspected,” Ms. Comnas reported. “I cannot think of any listings that we had that suffered terrible damage, either. The isolated instances of houses on the ocean that were badly damaged will be dealt with by those owners.”

She specifically cited the Beach Lane cottage in Wainscott owned by Ronald Lauder—son of Estée Lauder, founder of the eponymous cosmetics company—that was completely destroyed by waves that leapt over a wall of giant sandbags, known as Geocubes, which had been placed between it and the sea before Sandy hit. Just three years ago, the cottage had been saved by the same wall of sandbags, but it wasn’t enough this time. The morning after the storm, the bags remained, as did the cottage’s rear staircase, but not much else. The splintered remains of the house’s walls, and much of its contents, were scattered across the adjacent beach.

To Ms. Comnas’s knowledge, the home was not for sale and she said she suspects Mr. Lauder will rebuild.

For those houses still on the market, it is simply too early to cast any predictions about Sandy’s potential impact on property value, according to Westhampton Beach-based appraiser James Forbin of James Forbin Appraisal.

“Much data has to be reviewed in the wake of the storm,” he wrote in an email last week. “In addition, because sales are based on Wall Street bonuses, the impact of [Barack] Obama’s reelection and the coming ‘economic cliff,’ [the impacts] are yet to be realized on the local marketplace. Only by early spring of 2013 will better trends reveal themselves.”

But storm or no storm, the Hamptons mystique—the light, the fields, the ocean and what’s left of its beaches—still remains. And as long as that’s true, so does demand, Mr. Tufano said.

“If money was not a concern, what percentage of people wouldn’t want to live on one of the most prestigious roads that run along the Atlantic Ocean in the Hamptons?” he said. “This way, you wake up on a beautiful August morning and walk out your back door, stroll a few feet on the white sandy beach and dip your toes into the ocean. That dream comes with a hefty price tag, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, even with the thought of the eventual storm that may wash it all away.”