As the housing industry continues to bear the effects of the recession, the Hamptons rental market is evolving. While Hamptons vacationers used to commit to renting a house for the entire summer, the rental scene there has changed, as the Hamptons has become more of a year-round destination and landlords have begun to accept shorter-term rentals, while the Internet has enabled homeowners to list their properties online, where renters often search for short-term deals, the New York Times reported. “This season has been all about shorter-term rentals,” said Todd Matarazzo, who has listed his four-bedroom home in Sag Harbor on the vacation rental site HomeAway.com. “I had one family that took June, and since July 1, it’s been one week at a time.” Though last year Matarazzo had a renter for the whole summer and for September, his calendar for the fall and winter seasons is virtually empty, except for two weekend bookings in September. The number of Hamptons properties listed for rent on HomeAway.com increased 56 percent between 2008 and 2010, to more than 470 homes. [NYT]

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Demanding renters are edging out of the Hamptons beach community this year, according to brokers on the East End. While last summer saw a glut of low-balling summer boarders, the Corcoran Group’s Susan Breitenbach told the New York Post that the market is “100 percent better than last year.” While rental rates still haven’t rebounded to the boom days, Breitenbach said that property owners are more likely to hold their ground and make fewer concessions, which is making some in the region hopeful for a comeback. As The Real Deal reported in the March issue, brokers still aren’t seeing overspending on the East End, but the wimpy rental offers of 2009 might feel like a distant memory this summer. “Last year, everything was down and everyone was down, and people were making ridiculously [low] offers,” Jane Gill, a vice president at Saunders & Associates in Bridgehampton, told The Real Deal. “This year, most of my customers are already circling around the properties that they’re considering — in February. That’s a good sign.”

An Eastern European businessman will be paying $425,000 to rent a Hamptons home for two weeks in August, the most money ever paid for a two-week East End rental. The 30,000-square-foot home, called Sandcastle, at 612 Halsey Lane in Bridgehampton, is also on the market for $59.5 million. The home, built and owned by developer Joe Farrell, includes a bowling alley, squash court, rock-climbing wall, spa and pool. Pop group Jonas Brothers reportedly looked at the house as a possible summer rental. Another house Farrell is working on, at 64 Bridge Lane in Bridgehampton, is in contract for around the asking price of $4.9 million. [more]