Hamptons Housing Market Bounces Back

The residential market in the Hamptons is finally getting its groove back.

New signed contracts and new listings grew significantly in the luxury enclave in February after months of only marginal gains, according to Miller Samuel’s monthly report for Douglas Elliman.

“There was a significant shift in the narrative in the Hamptons,” said report author Jonathan Miller. With more homes hitting the market, he said sales should continue to rise.

That is typical in the spring, but the Hamptons market’s pandemic-era boom and subsequent downturn distorted the seasonal pattern, Miller said. Last month’s annual growth signals a return to seasonality.

New signed contracts in the Hamptons rose for the third month in a row, and February’s uptick far outpaced January’s. New signed contracts increased 40 percent year-over-year, totaling 77, after rising just 4 percent annually in the month prior.

New listings grew 55 percent year-over-year to 121, the third boost in the past four months and a welcome sign for agents.

“One of the biggest problems in the Hamptons was a chronic lack of supply,” Miller said.

He cautioned that the surge in listings “doesn’t mean supply has normalized,” but added that it is allowing for more sales.

On a monthly basis, new signed contracts in the Hamptons rose for the third time in four months, up 60 percent from January. New listings rose 36 percent.

On the North Fork, contract activity remained flat last month, as it has in three of the past four months. Buyers signed contracts for only 16 homes in February, compared to 17 in the same period last year.

However, new listings grew 21 percent annually, up from 28 to 34.

“Like the South Fork, we are seeing inventory expand and we expect that to lead to more transactions in the coming months beyond seasonal upticks,” Miller said.

New signed contracts on the North Fork rose 33 percent from January to February, while new listings more than doubled — an indicator of how few homes hit the market in the first month of the year, Miller said.