Homes Sales Dramatically Drop Across The Hamptons

“Q1 home sales clearly show a tremendous pull back on the high end,” noted Town & Country CEO Judi A. Desiderio in the Town & Country Hamptons 1st Quarter 2017 Home Sales Report. “Town & Country monitors eight separate price ranges in 12 different markets.”

Home sales decreased in the Sag Harbor area (-5 percent), Sag Harbor Village (-50 percent), Shelter Island (-47 percent), the Southampton area (-28 percent), Hampton Bays (-39 percent), Amagansett (-39 percent), Bridgehampton (-27 percent), the East Hampton area (-18 percent), and East Hampton Village (-44 percent). Montauk was the only hamlet to see any increase in the number of home sales, but it was not a significant change, with just an 8 percent increase from 12 (Q1 of 2016) to 13 (Q1 of 2017). The number of home sales in Westhampton (52) and Southampton Village (13) remained the same.

“Across the board, none of the hamlets experienced an increase in the $10 million to $19.99 million or $20 million and up price ranges,” she explained. “In all Hamptons markets combined, these two price categories declined by -83 percent and -67 percent, respectively.”

The number of home sales in the Hamptons was down from 343 (Q1 of 2016) to 269 (Q1 of 2017) – a 22 percent drop. Total home sales volume decreased by 27.21 percent from $698,916,845 (Q1 of 2016) to $509,392,169 (Q1 of 2017). However, the median home sales price increased 13.15 percent, from $995,000 (Q1 of 2016) to $1,125,806 (Q1 of 2017).

“The only beacon in this report would be Southampton Village, where the total home sales volume jumped a whopping +93.6 percent, while the median home sales price shot up 87.5 percent to $3.75 million in 2017 from $2 million in 2016,” noted Desiderio. “In fact, the only sale in the $20 million and up category was 7 Old Town Road in Southampton Village for $26,000,000.”

If the report seems slightly alarming, Desiderio believes the market is heading in a more positive direction. “Keep in mind, all real estate reports are somewhat a look in the rearview mirror. Recorded data that is analyzed reflects closings that went into contract an average of 60 days prior,” she said. “Most of this data reflects Q4 2016 sales activity, which was apparently weak for many sectors. Just as I predicted these stats would be sad for Q1 2017, I predict that the Q2 will be better for most markets and price ranges, while the high end remains against headwinds.”