Throughout the spring, the mantra of faith amongst the East End summer rental community held that it would be a "late season"—namely, that all the houses that hadn't rented yet would find renters who'd emerge with Memorial Day to snap up their unclaimed abodes. Cool idea! Well, it sort of happened, but didn't really end up mattering. Two choice broker quotes from reporter Michael Wright's seek-the-silver-lining story about the rental market as June begins:
1) Jay Flagg, Prudential Douglas Elliman: "It took the weather to change, and then they got desperate. It backfired on the people who had been holding out—everyone was stumbling over one another. In the end, we'll be up in terms of rentals, but the volume will be down in terms of dollars."
2) James McLauchlen, who expects overall dollar totals to be off 40 percent or more: "Others may look at it differently. But the fact is, it's not been a good rental season."
Ouch. On the bright side: perhaps it'll be a "very, very late season"? A "super-late season"? October, anyone?
· Slow Season Yields Shorter Rental Terms [Southampton Press]
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