Hamptons, North Fork markets hit 'warp speed' in the fourth quarter
553 Dune Rd. in Westhampton Beach Village is on the market for $6,250,000. Sales doubled in the Hamptons and the North Fork in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The Hamptons, North Fork, and Long Island continue to see a pandemic sales bounce.
The number of sales doubled in the Hamptons and the North Fork in the fourth quarter of 2020—and on Long Island they were up 30.6, according to the latest Elliman Reports for the quarter and for the 2020 decade.
Sellers saw new records set for median prices, thanks to record low mortgage rates and ongoing demand from buyers looking for a comfortable suburban place of their own to ride out the pandemic while still being within commuting distance of the city.
In the Hamptons, the median sales price hit $1,202,500, a new record for the second straight quarter in 15 years of tracking this metric. The number of sales in the quarter was the highest in at least 15 years as well.
Competition for houses increased: The number of Hamptons listings dropped for the fifth consecutive quarter and bidding wars were up—the percentage of deals that closed over ask was the highest in nearly five years of tracking.
On the North Fork, both the fourth quarter median sales price, $805,000, and the average sales price, $1,041,415, set new records for 14 year of tracking. The area also saw the largest annual surge in sales on record. Listings fell to a 14-year low and bidding wars jump to their biggest percentage of deals in nearly five years of tracking.
Over on Long Island, the median sales price for the quarter, $525,000, and the average sales price, $607,760, jumped 15.4 percent and 16.3 percent respectively to hit new records. So did the number of sales, which leaped to the highest quarterly total in 18 years. Listing fell to the lowest level in 17 years.
Other market reports
Brown Harris Stevens released its Hamptons market report and Robert Nelson, executive managing director at BHS, says the numbers for dollar volume are “pretty extraordinary.”
He says there were over $1 billion in sales in the fourth quarter and more than $5 billion for the year. Those numbers crush the previous record of $4.42 billion set in 2014. Sales of single-family houses in the fourth quarter were the highest number of fourth-quarter sales in six years.
“We are experiencing continued demand in both sales and rentals going into 2021 with limited supply," Nelson says.
According to Corcoran’s fourth quarter report for the East End, high-end inventory is moving fast. The report drills down to look at which hamlets saw increased sales, and the largest increase was seen in Quogue Village and Quogue.
“The market is in warp speed, and people have been making purchase decisions in days that may have taken weeks or months in the past,” says Ernie Cervi, regional senior vice president for the East End at The Corcoran Group.
“It’s evident that we are rapidly becoming more of a year-round community,” he says.
The blistering pace of the fourth quarter indicates the traditional slower winter months may be a thing of the past, at least for now.
“If people were looking forward to the ‘off’ season, they may still have a long wait ahead. The weather may have cooled—but buyers' interest in Hamptons real estate simply has not,” he says.
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