Montauk Luxury Trailer Community Sale Prices Double

A community on the East End is redefining what it means to live in a trailer park.

The Montauk Shores trailer community has seen some eye-popping home sales this year, the New York Post reported. Since last year, the average sale price for homes has more than doubled, to $2.5 million.

Sellers have been seeking $3 million and even more than $4 million following an off-market deal in February between neighbors for $3.75 million. An 1,100-square-foot unit that’s not even directly on the ocean hit the market for $3.95 million in September.

A major caveat regarding the average sale price is the small sample size. Only three deals for Montauk Shores homes have closed this year, the same number as last year, when the average sale price was $1.1 million. This year’s priciest sale was more lucrative than last year’s three sales combined.

Douglas Elliman’s James Keogh (Douglas Elliman)

In the two preceding years, there were six sales each. The closing prices averaged $1.2 million in 2021 and $917,000 in 2020.

The driver of the price jump in Montauk Shores was the sale of units on Deforest Road, which faces the ocean. Many of the community’s listings are of the seven-figure variety, though older trailers set further away from the waterfront are cheaper.

The condominium that technically serves as the fulcrum for many of the Montauk Shores listings, 100 Deforest Road, only allows cash buyers. That limits the buyer pool up to wealthy individuals.

James Keogh, a broker for Douglas Elliman’s Atlantic Team, acknowledged that asking prices at Montauk Shores these days can be aspirational. He explained that many of the buyers are young and wealthy, attracted to the famed Ditch Plains surf and the nightlife.

On the prospect of sellers actually getting some of their ambitious prices, Keogh simply said, “you never know.” Another broker added that sellers would likely stick to their prices as they wait out the winter freeze, when fewer people are in the market for an oceanfront Hamptons home.

— Holden Walter-Warner