Hamptons residential market rumbles back to life

The Hamptons residential market is on the up and up. 

The luxury enclave on Long Island’s East End notched yearly gains in both new signed contracts and new listings last month, according to Miller Samuel’s monthly report for Douglas Elliman. 

The Hamptons “seems to be the leader” in the tri-state region, report author Jonathan Miller said, as it’s one of the few markets in the metropolitan area to log upticks in contract signings for both single-family homes and condos. 

New signed contracts in May jumped 11 percent year-over-year, marking the fifth increase in the last six months. The number of inked deals in the period were up from 90 to 100. A significant portion of this growth was for single-family homes priced above $4 million, which Miller attributed to an uptick in listings at that price point. 

Contract activity has increased sharply in the Hamptons for homes asking more than $1 million. In the last two months, the number of signed contracts in the market has almost doubled year-over-year. 

More homes hit the market last month than the previous year, up 13 percent from 144 to 162. May was the fifth consecutive month of positive growth in new listings. 

In the Hamptons, “inventory has been entering the market since the beginning of the year at a fairly robust pace,” Miller said. He added that continued gains in new listings are sustaining the growth in new signed contracts. 

While Hamptons brokers can start to breathe a sigh of relief, home sales on the North Fork didn’t fare quite as well. New signed contracts last month fell 27 percent annually, down from 41 to 30. 

“A lot of the contract gains [in the Hamptons] have skewed toward the higher-end of the market,” Miller said. “North Fork price points just aren’t as high.”

Though contracts have slumped, the North Fork has seen a flood of new listings hitting the market for the last four months. New listings in May rose 55 percent year-over-year, up from 44 to 68. 

“This is going to enable more activity in the coming months,” Miller said. “We’ll probably start seeing more contracts.”

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