Hamptons housing market ends 2017 on a high note

The Hamptons saved the best for last in 2017, closing out the year with a quarter marked by higher sales prices and lower listing discounts.

The average sales price in the fourth quarter of last year was about $1.8 million, up 9.8 percent from the third quarter and up 9.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a report on the market from Douglas Elliman. The number of year-over-year sales increased as well, to 552 from 524, while the year-over-year listing discount decreased to 10 percent from 12 percent.

Although the average price for condominiums and luxury homes in the fourth quarter fell from the third quarter, the average price for condos, single-family homes and luxury homes all saw year-over-year increases.

Condos sold for an average of $498,500, up from $476,767 in the fourth quarter of 2016, while single-family home prices increased to about $1.9 million from approximately $1.7 million and luxury home prices jumped to about $7.5 million from about $7.1 million.

There were 2,230 sales overall in 2017 with an average price of about $1.8 million, up from 2,039 overall sales in 2016 with an average price of about $1.7 million.

Jonathan Miller, CEO of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel and author of the report, said that while the Hamptons may give the impression of a real estate market where homes only sell for $50 million or more, the market’s fourth-quarter numbers show that’s not the case.

“The fourth quarter ended up being the strongest quarter of 2017, and it was characterized by an uptick in sales prices trending higher, a shortage of inventory and faster marketing time,” he said. “Pretty much all the metrics are showing strength.”