Low Inventory In Hamptons Real Estate Under $1 Million Drives Up Prices

The Q3 2018 Hamptons real estate reports are in and the median sales price is up by 8.4 percent to $965,000 (compared to Q3 of 2017). The average sales price also saw an increase – up 5.8 percent to $1,774,043.

“With fewer opportunities for properties under a million, there has been a commensurate increase in the average price in the market generally,” Carl Benincasa, Douglas Elliman Regional Vice President of Sales for the Hamptons, explained. “Condo sales, which have been on the rise in the near past, have seen losses year over year in every key metric.”

The number of sales dropped 13.3 percent to 448, marking the third consecutive quarter sales fell. The number of luxury listings soared – resulting in the highest level seen in the seven years of tracking, but luxury sales at or above $10 million remained unchanged from year ago.

“Overall, the significant takeaways from the data show that opportunities in the lower price ranges are becoming less available, prompting buyers in that segment of the market to act,” Benincasa concluded.

On the South Fork, sales dropped by 15.7 percent (compared to 3Q17), while the total dollar volume was down 17.8 percent to $598,741,707.

“With the total number of sales on both Forks lower than the prior year, the 3rd Q 2018 reflected slower activity in the high end and a more brisk market in the under $2 million price range with over 75 percent of the sales falling in that bracket on the South Fork alone,” noted Aspasia G. Comnas, Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons, LLC. Executive Managing Director. “It indicates strong sales to first home buyers fueled by Millennials now coming of age and starting to enter the housing market.”

On the South Fork, the majority of sales (77 percent) in 3Q18 were under $2 million. There was just 22 sales over $5 million – seven of which were over $10 million.

“Higher end buyers for our market are perhaps preferring their gains in a robust and more liquid stock market to investing in a second home or are waiting for further price reductions,” Comnas reflected. “As the market softens, it is creating a great opportunity for buyers.”

Looking at some of the villages specifically, Hampton Bays’ Total Home Sales Volume was up a whopping 135 percent, Amagansett’s Median Home Sales Price grew by a jaw-dropping 159 percent year-to-year to $5.25 million – and that was the result of just seven sales during those three months, Southampton Village saw a 60 percent increase in the Number of Home Sales and a 74 percent jump in Total Home Sales Volume. The Sag Harbor Village market cooled off a bit with a 21 percent drop in Number of Home Sales and 34 percent decrease in Total Home Sales Volume. Montauk also saw a drop in Home Sales (by 21 percent), Total Home Sales Volume (by 13 percent), and Median Home Sales Price ( by 7 percent).

“But I would not say this fishing hamlet is cooling off, but rather just a disconnect between the buyers and sellers,” Judi A. Desiderio, Town & Country Real Estate CEO, notes in the Town & Country Hamptons 3rd Quarter 2018 Home Sales Report. “Time will tell what prevails. Looking at All Hamptons Markets Combined you will see that, although several individual markets moved independently, overall the market activity was stable — not weighted in one direction or the other. It is worth noting that the $5 to 9.99M price range experienced the greatest increase in sales activity at +36%.”