With Hamptons Sales Sluggish, Some Buyers See Opportunity

The number of luxury homes changing hands in the Hamptons, a favorite summer destination of New York’s rich and famous, slid by a fifth in the last three months. There were 45 sales recorded in the first quarter, down from 62 in the previous three months, according to new figures compiled by appraisal firm Miller Samuel on behalf of real estate agent Douglas Elliman. Sales of properties in all price brackets hit a three-year low of 437. At the same time, the median price of a luxury property in the Hamptons, defined as the top 10% of sales, fell 33.7%% in the first quarter of 2016 to $5.5 million, although this was flat compared with a year earlier. The Hamptons, on the east end of Long Island, has long been a favorite holiday haunt of Wall Street bankers, leaving the health of its real estate sector largely linked to the performance of the financial markets. As a result, last year was particularly strong, but it now appears to be “returning to a more normal or sustainable level of growth”, according to Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, as the first quarter of the year was turbulent for Wall Street on the the back of jitters over China and oil prices. Dottie Herman, the CEO of Douglas Elliman, told Mansion Global that a lot of buyers at the top end came back a year or two ago, but they are less active now. As a result, those who are in a position to buy could get a good deal. “I’m not going to say you can get a steal, but you can get good deals if you have financing in place,” she said. “The Hamptons market is only going to grow. It’s a very good investment.” Calvin Klein, Scarlett Johansson, Tory Burch, Louis CK, Martha Stewart, Jon Bon Jovi and Steven Spielberg are among some of the celebrities who own properties in the Hamptons. According to a report by Business Insider, Sagaponack, where Billy Joel and the Clintons have spent summers, leapfrogged Atherton in California’s Silicon Valley as the U.S.’s most expensive zip code. Separately, Douglas Elliman released figures that showed the number of sales of luxury single-family homes in Greater Los Angeles fell 14.5% in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the previous three months — to 118. The number of luxury condos changing hands, meanwhile, dropped 22.1% to 81.