The race to secure a Hamptons home for the summer has started early this year – leading realtors to warn beachgoers to brace for soaring prices. Presidents Day weekend typically marks the start of the boom in ritzy beach towns’ home markets – but this year the rush started soon after the New Year, local real estate agents told Mansion Global Sunday . Hamptons home sales have skyrocketed since the pandemic , and demand for the properties show no signs of slowing.
Realtors have attributed the rise to recent global unrest – such as the war in Gaza – and said it has led many well-heeled buyers and renters to trade their typical overseas hangs for more domestic spots. Deep-pocketed patrons should therefore be ready for price hikes of around 35 percent, local agents this week warned – after witnessing an accelerated homebuying timeline in recent months. Sellers, meanwhile, can expect deals at asking price or even above it, as properties in East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Southampton and Sag Harbor continue to command – at the very least – seven figures.
‘Prices may be going up, but the number of sales has gone down,’ Town & Country Real Estate’s Judi Desiderio told Mansion Global of how the early interest has exhausted the seaside communities’ famously short housing supply. ‘There simply aren’t properties for sale,’ she said of the phenomenon – noting how as of President’s Day, the market had already reached a ‘fever pitch’. Most of the properties that remain, she said, are the especially pricey – including an 8,000 square-foot six bedroom in East Hampton one of her clients put up for sale last month.
Priced at just under $18million, the home is the epitome of luxury – even for The Hamptons. It is walking distance from the beach and East Hampton Village, and features six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, and five half baths. It also has a large outdoor area complete with a fireplace, its own kitchen, swimming pool, and infinity edge water spa – while the inside exudes a classic aesthetic that’s definitely at home in the heart of the tony community. The seller, retired New York financier Jess Reeves, 57, is among the many homeowners taking advantage of increased demand.
He reportedly had the property fine-tailored to his specifications in 2022, but is selling because he wants to live full-time in Palm Beach. He told Mansion Global that because of the upswing, he and others like him have been able to take a more selective, wait-and-see approach. ‘There is not much for sale in this neighborhood because people have lived here forever and don’t usually leave, so we had interest off the bat,’ he explained Sunday, as the home on Hither Lane sat on sites like Zillow for some 40 days. ‘We aren’t going to sell by doing the traditional open house course but taking a word-of-mouth approach so we can vet serious prospects.
‘We aren’t being aggressive.’ Reeves, who currently splits his time between Long Island and Florida, went on to explain how he’s already received several offers to rent the property, but is still set on selling. He said he even turned down an arrangement that would have seen him make $700,000 a month – a number that is not completely out of the ordinary in the Hampton’s highly sought-after housing market. As Reeves suggested, that market is not only influencing sellers, but renters as well.
A quick look on the website for local luxury realtor Corcoran – where a smaller East Hampton five-bedrooms is currently going for $300,000 a month – further illustrates this fact. Ashley Farrell, a broker with Corcoran, said she has already made nearly half of her usual $40million annual sales in this past month alone. The Westhampton native told Mansion Global that’s simply because sales ‘never really cooled last year and were steady through the holidays.’ Compass broker Richard Steinberg, who lives and sells in East Hampton, said he too has seen a surge in sales.
He told Mansion Global how his $12million bottom line in 2022 swelled to more than $20 million this year past, and that he projects that number to increase by at least a quarter by the end of 2024. He credited the increase with global unrest currently occurring in the Middle East and Europe, which he said has put off his usually high-flying clients. ‘My high-net-worth clients aren’t going to the Amalfi Coast or South of France this summer because they’re hesitant about traveling abroad,’ said Steinberg. ‘They’re staying put and looking for a Hamptons home where they can spend the season.’
Citing the war between Israel and Hamas specifically, the longtime Hamptons homeowner added: ‘As of January, Hamptons home sales have intensified, and the market activity has been brisk. At the same time, prices are going up.’ When asked if his clients are showing a preference for rentals as a result, he said: ‘It’s whatever opportunity is best.’ He simply observed how they are starting their search early by Hamptons standards – before the peak summer season. ‘Normally, people start looking around President’s Day weekend,’ he said. ‘But in 2024, they started right after the new year.’
Several data points support the local agents’ assertions, with a recent market report from Douglas Elliman also capturing rising prices in places like East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Southampton, and Sag Harbor. An intelligence report from Compass further found the median price for a home in the South Fork, an area that includes all the aforementioned towns, jumped by just over a third to a high of $2.1million in the last quarter of 2023, compared with 2022. The number reflecting annual average sales prices rose by an almost identical 35.1 percent, to $3.8 million.
The trophy-home market, meanwhile, experienced a similar upswing in terms of transactions, with 23 above $10 million occurring the last quarter of 2023. That’s a 35 percent increase compared to the same period last year – more proof that the Hamptons market is in the midst of a profound change. Still grappling with this concept are middle-class buyers like a woman who spoke to Mansion Global after relocating to the Hamptons with her family in the wake of the pandemic, but has still failed to find a reasonable four-bedroom nearly four years later.
Capitalizing, though, are investor-developers like Roland Chemtob, who is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar venture that will see him construct four homes in East Hampton by spring of next year. He plans to list the 2,500 to 6,000 square feet behemoths for between $4 million to $15 million a piece, he said – and has already received several offers. ‘People have gotten to know about these homes through word of mouth and are approaching me to customize them,’ he said.
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