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Both Hamptons sales activity and sales prices are down. Ok.

The looming Memorial Day weekend – summer, beaches, vacations, getaways – made The Hamptons a favorite topic.

Hamptons Homes Drop Most Since Realtors Kept Records [Bloomberg]

The Hamptons: Economic Downturn or Killer Tornado? [CityFile]

Bargains abound for well-heeled in the Hamptons [AP]


Trivial background stuff to ignore – down to the wire via remote

Thursday night I got a call from Bloomberg TV asking if I could come to their studios to do a segment and I begged off. I had opted to work from home on Friday because one of my kids was getting an award at school in the morning and I wanted work at home…plus it was the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Wait, why am I justifying this? 😉

They offered to set up a remote interview (third party company) in CT so I didn’t have to commute into NYC. Easy enough. Google maps said the remote studio was 10 minutes away – I gave myself 25 minutes. The address wasn’t on my GPS unit so I used my iphone, following the pulsating blue dot.

15 minutes before air time
Forgot about heavy Memorial Day traffic.

10 minutes before air time
I got to the street, but there were no numbers on the building I was ultimately looking for but I ran out of street. There was a security booth at the end of the street and a woman without teeth in the booth grunted to go around the corner.

7 minutes before air time
I enter the parking garage, which connected multiple buildings, and of course none were identified with numbers. I guessed it was the farthest building away. I was right.

5 minutes before air time
The lobby security guard had no idea where a TV studio was, so I called the contact number and they told me what floor to go to.

3 minutes before air time
I took the elevator to the floor and no one is there – just a series of glass doors in 3 directions. I picked one and started walking around trying to find the studio. Nothing was labeled.

1 minute before air time
Some came out of an unmark door, took me to the remote studio, mic’ed me up with a minute to go. And then anchor Peter Cook in DC started speaking to me to get acquainted.

air time
We went live and the TV feed was Fox News for the first 30 seconds instead of Bloomberg – a bit confusing. But somehow it worked out.

And I made it to my son’s award ceremony.

Listen to the segment.

Tags: Television, NAR, National Association of Realtors

3 Comments

Here’s a recent interview I did with Jen Benepe of The Real Deal Magazine on the East End and the market report 1Q 09 market report covering the Hamptons and North Fork.

You can stick a “fork” in it as much as you want, but the Hamptons aren’t “done,” by the way.

View the interview.

Tags: Television

1 Comment

The online version of the Prudential Douglas Elliman 1Q 2009 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel] is available for download. Sorry, but I was tardy posting this report to my site after the initial release and coverage.

I have been writing various incarnations of the New York regional market report series for Prudential Douglas Elliman since 1994. The President and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Dottie Herman, is a big believer in publishing market data to create more transparency for consumers in the markets her firm serves – Manhattan to Montauk.

To build Hamptons/North Fork custom data tables

To view Hamptons/North Fork charts

An excerpt

…There were 201 sales in the first quarter, down 49.8% from 400 sales in the same period last year and 72.9% from the same period five years ago, which had 742 sales. The number of sales dropped 44.6% from the prior quarter, which had a total of 363 sales. The slow down in activity is attributable to the credit crunch, employment and compensation concerns on Wall Street and recessionary economic conditions. As a result of the decline in the number of sales listing inventory expanded. There were 2,289 properties available for sale at the end of the first quarter, up 23.9% from 1,848 properties during the same period last year. The combination of rising inventory and declining sales resulted in a jump in the monthly absorption rate – the number of months to sell all existing inventory at the current pace of sales – to 34.2 months, from 13.9 months in the prior year quarter and up from 17.2 months in the prior quarter… on the high water mark set in their local market in the past few years, rather than in line with current conditions…

Download report: [1Q 2009 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF1Q09.pdf)

Tags: Dottie Herman, Absorption

1 Comment

The 2008 Prudential Douglas Elliman Hamptons/North Fork Market Report is now available for download. Dottie Herman, the President/CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman is a big believer in market transparency, something rare in the real estate brokerage business.

I have been writing various incarnations of the New York regional market report series for Prudential Douglas Elliman since 1994 and this is the second time we have prepared a ten year report for the East End market. Its data heavy without the text. A recap of the past decade.

Guess what? Housing is cyclical.



Download the Prudential Douglas Elliman 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Report

Download other market reports prepared by Miller Samuel

Tags: Dottie Herman

Comments Off on [East End Around] 1999-2008 Hamptons/North Fork Report

The online version of the Prudential Douglas Elliman 4Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel] is available for download. Sorry, but I was tardy posting this report to my site after the initial release and coverage.

I have been writing various incarnations of the New York regional market report series for Prudential Douglas Elliman since 1994. The President and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Dottie Herman, is a big believer in publishing market data to create more transparency for consumers in the markets her firm serves – Manhattan to Montauk.

To build Hamptons/North Fork custom data tables

To view Hamptons/North Fork charts

An excerpt

…The days on market averaged 150 this quarter, 16 days faster than the 166 days on market during the same period last year. “Casual sellers” are not listing their properties in significant numbers, which has helped temper the pace of rising inventory. In addition, the negotiability between buyers and sellers expanded significantly this quarter. The average listing discount was 15.4% from the list price at time of contract to the contract price, up from 8.1% during the same period last year. This indicator suggests that for most properties that go to contract, the seller has come down significantly to reach current market levels. This is further evidenced by the 35% listing discount from the original list price. Sellers continue to be behind the market and are inclined to price property based on the high water mark set in their local market in the past few years, rather than in line with current conditions…

Download report: [4Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF4Q08.pdf)

Tags: Dottie Herman

Comments Off on [East End] 4Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview Available For Download

The online version of the Prudential Douglas Elliman 3Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel] is now available for download.

I have been writing various incarnations of the New York regional market report series for Douglas Elliman since 1994.

To build Hamptons/North Fork custom data tables
To view Hamptons/North Fork charts

An excerpt
…The upper price range of the housing market continues to outperform the overall housing market. In each of the past four quarters, the luxury market, defined as the upper ten percent of all sales, saw a higher year over year quarterly increase in median sales price than the overall market. The luxury market increased 10.3% in median sales price and the overall market declined 9.2% in median sales price compared to the same period last year. The market area south of the highway consistently has the highest overall prices as compared to the areas to the north and on either side of the canal. Of the four regions, only south of the highway saw an increase in median sales price of 1% as compared to the prior year quarter…

A New Report…
This year, we created a 10-year window of the East End using public record information. The result is a 4-page report crammed with information but no narrative (given my grammar-challenged writing skills, it’s a bit of a relief). I created the Prudential Douglas Elliman 1998-2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Report which is now available for download. I got this project going in August so I do realize it is dated in terms of the current year but the plan is to release this report annually so the 2008 version will be completed in early 2009.







Download report: [3Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF3Q08.pdf)
Download report: [1998-2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF07.pdf)

1 Comment

The online version of the Prudential Douglas Elliman 2Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel] is available for download.

I have been writing various incarnations of the New York regional market report series for Douglas Elliman since 1994.

To build Hamptons/North Fork custom data tables

To view Hamptons/North Fork charts

An excerpt

…The upper price range of the housing market continues to outperform the overall housing market. In each of the past four quarters, the luxury market, defined as the upper ten percent of all sales, saw a higher year over year quarterly increase in median sales price than the overall market. The luxury market increased 10.3% in median sales price and the overall market declined 9.2% in median sales price compared to the same period last year. The market area south of the highway consistently has the highest overall prices as compared to the areas to the north and on either side of the canal. Of the four regions, only south of the highway saw an increase in median sales price of 1% as compared to the prior year quarter…

Download report: [2Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF2Q08.pdf)

3 Comments

The online version of the Prudential Douglas Elliman 1Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel] is available for download.

I have been writing various incarnations of the New York regional market report series for Douglas Elliman since 1994.

To build Hamptons/North Fork custom data tables

To view Hamptons/North Fork charts

An excerpt

…Both median and average sales price indicators were above levels reached in the prior year quarter. There was an upward skew in average sales price not seen in the change in median sales price, which was $790,000 up 1.9% over the prior year period median sales price of $775,000. The average sales price was $1,728,610 this quarter, up 16.8% above the prior year quarter, the second highest quarterly average sales price after the third quarter of 2007, which had an average sales price of $1,805,104.

Besides the rise in price indicators within the top 20% of the market, perhaps one of the more striking characteristics of the East End was the decline in overall number of sales. The lower volume of sales activity is largely attributable to the declining national economic climate, tighter credit and a weaker employment picture in the New York City financial services sector…

Download report: [1Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF1Q08.pdf)

Comments Off on [East End] 1Q 2008 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview Available For Download

Although it is April Fool’s Day, I realized I was negligent in posting the Hamptons/North Fork report on Matrix and my web site (hey, I know 1Q 08 is now over and I am working on that report.) The report was previously available at the Prudential Douglas Elliman site.

The PDF version of the 4Q 2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel] is available for download. I have been writing various incarnations of my New York regional market report series for them since 1994.

In short order (by 1Q 08), I’ll be adding data tables and charts to the Miller Samuel web site.

An excerpt

…The average sales price of an East End property was $1,487,161 in the current quarter, up 17.6% from the $1,264,165 average sales price of the same period last year. Median sales price, which generally eliminates price outliers, showed a similar pattern. The median sales price was $800,000, an increase of 14.7% above the prior year quarter median sales price of $697,500. Over the past few years, the year over year pace of price growth in the third quarter has been larger than any other quarter of the year. The higher price levels reached in the third quarter have inferred quarter over quarter weakness going to the fourth quarter…Over the past year, the pace of price increases in the East End has been higher in the luxury sector…

Download report: [4Q 2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF4Q07.pdf)

Comments Off on [East End Round-up] 4Q 2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview Available For Download

Well, its been a long time coming because extracting data from the East End has been the most challenging of all the reports I have done to date, but the Hamptons/North Fork has finally been added to the family of market reports I prepare for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

The PDF version of the 3Q 2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [Miller Samuel] is available for download. I have been writing various incarnations of this market report series for them since 1994.

In short order (by 4Q), I’ll be adding data tables and charts to the Miller Samuel web site.

An excerpt

…The average sales price of a residential property in the East End was $1,805,104 this quarter, up 32.7% from the prior year quarter average sales price of $1,360,515 and up 8.2% from the prior quarter average sales price of $1,668,657. The median sales price was $882,000, up 23% from the prior year quarter median sales price of $717,340 but slipped 2% from the $900,000 median sales price in the prior quarter. The nearly identical growth in these indicators from the prior year quarter suggests that average sales price was not significantly skewed by the upper end of the market. Listing inventory, however, increased 27.8% from the prior quarter total of 3,501 units to 4,475 units in the current quarter. The tracking of inventory levels for this report began in 2007….In contrast to the rise in price indicators, the number of sales continued to slip. There were 427 sales in the current quarter, down 30.5% from the prior year quarter total of 614 and down 31.6% from the prior quarter total of 624 units. The sharp increase in price levels has likely played a significant role in the diminished number of sales this quarter. This is also consistent with the recent increase in listing inventory…

Download report: [3Q 2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview [pdf]](https://www.millersamuel.com/reports/pdf-reports/HNF3Q07.pdf)

Comments Off on [Introducing] 3Q 2007 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview Available For Download