Hamptons home prices surged 30% from 2024

The median price of a Hamptons home climbed 30% to $2 million in the third quarter, compared with the same stretch a year ago, as a surge in high-end sales lifted the market.

On the North Fork, the median sale closed just above $1 million for the second quarter in a row, according to new data from real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel. 

A strong year for Wall Street in 2024 increased the size of the buyer pool on the East End, said Todd Bourgard, CEO of Douglas Elliman for Long Island, the Hamptons and the North Fork. The average bonus among workers in the securities industry rose to a record $244,700 last year, Newsday previously reported.

“Wall Street and the Hamptons go hand in hand,” he said. “When the [stock] market is really good as it has been, our buyers are out here."

Neither price level represents a record, but home prices rose in both regions climbed compared with the year before. The median price in the Hamptons reached a high of $2.04 million in the first quarter, while the North Fork record was $1.09 million in the second quarter of this year.

The higher median prices reflect the strength of the top end of the market, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel. One reason is that buyers of luxury real estate often don’t use mortgages to buy homes and have access to alternative types of financing, so they are less affected by the average 30-year fixed rate staying above 6%.

“The high end market over the last year and a half has been consistently outperforming everything,” Miller said.

About 18% of deals in the Hamptons that closed in the third quarter sold for $5 million or higher, he said.

Unlike the rest of Long Island, the number of sales has risen in the Hamptons. There were 421 closings in the Hamptons in the third quarter, up 7.1% from the same period a year earlier. The number of deals on the North Fork was basically flat, at 125, during the July to September period.

Listings in the Hamptons, at 1,256, were down just under 1% from a year ago

“The inventory is almost back to the level we saw pre-pandemic,” said Ernie Cervi, regional senior vice president of the East End at Corcoran. "We'd like to see more new construction."

But on the North Fork, listings have plummeted over the past year. There were 142 homes for sale at the end of September, which was down nearly 46% from the same time a year ago.