Corcoran has released its third quarter market report for the Hamptons, and things are looking up for the East End, one might even say encouraging. The firm reports that 'overall sales volume...has increased as in the third quarter as compared to the same period last year', owing to a small increase in average home prices and a brighter outlook for the high end market. Still, the total number of homes sold is slightly down and inventory continues to be on a steady climb, but no matter, 3 pluses to 1 minus means comeback in some sense of the word.
In a village-by-village breakdown, notable numbers appear in the homes sold category for Southampton, Bridgehampton/Sagaponack and Wainscott. Southampton saw a 136% increase this quarter, with 26 homes off the market as compared with last year's 11. Bridgehampton and Sagaponack combined were up with 18 versus last year's 10, and Wainscott saw a whopping $300% increase. The pathetic 2 homes sold during Q3 of 2008 were nothing compared with 2009's 8.
Proving we're not out of the woods yet, on the land front, it seems the turnaround is slower. The average price for South Fork terra is off 49% from Q3 2008, and parcels sold are down to 28 from last year's 49. As for inventory, what Corcoran called 'a broader range of opportunities for buyers' proves to be an increase of nearly 1,000 properties on the market since the same time last year. Broader range indeed.
All fancy purple graphage courtesy of Corcoran, see the rest here.
· The Corcoran Report: East End Third Quarter 2009 [Corcoran]