Real Estate Pros Encouraged By Hamptons 1st Quarter Reports

While the median sales price in the Hamptons remained at $995,000, as compared to the same period a year ago, the average sales price jumped 15.2 percent to $1,986,986, which was a result of a rise in sales over $5 million.

“While high-end movement and a jump in average sales price indicate a robust high-end buyer pool, the market has seen a significant slip in overall sales volume,” Carl Benincasa, Regional Vice President of Sales, Douglas Elliman Real Estate, explained about The Elliman Reports: Hamptons Q1-2018. “This combined with a low-to-mid range trend towards price discounts and jumps in absorption rates, indicates that the buyers are out there, sellers just need to find the right price point.”

Overall, the number of Hamptons sales slightly dropped, by 6.6 percent year to year to 441, and houses were on the market slightly longer (154 days) – a 2 percent increase. Even though sales were down, the listing inventory decreased by 10.3 percent to 1,282.

The median sales price on the North Fork jumped 17.9 percent to $612,500, but the average sales price was down 13.5 percent to $741,411, and the number of sales increased 5 percent to 127. Houses were on the market a shorter time period and listing inventory slipped 5.9 percent to 349.

Another Q1 sale was this Stanley Road home in Mattituck. (Photo: Courtesy of Douglas Elliman)

“Activity in the 1st Quarter of 2018 is closer to 2016 levels and seems to show a slow but steady trend towards an improving market,” Aspasia G. Comnas, Executive Managing Director, Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons, noted about the Q1 2018 Brown Harris Stevens Hamptons + North Fork Market Report.

On the South Fork, sales were up by 23.4 percent (332 in Q1 of 2018 vs. 269 in Q1 of 2017) and the total dollar volume was also on the rise, jumping 32.2 percent to $673,530,318.

Total dollar volume was dramatically up in East Hampton Village, which experienced a 375 percent increase – as a result of 10 sales in 1Q of 18 compared to 5 sales in 1Q of 17.

“While some areas showed a dramatic change – such as a 100 percent jump in the number of sales in East Hampton Village this quarter over 2017 – we are reminded that the relatively small number of transactions generally in the Hamptons (and in that case 10 sales versus 5) can skew the results,” Comnas said. “However, the overall improvement for this first quarter is very encouraging.”