Recent Recorded Sales

Suffolk County provides an abysmal recording system that prevents closings from appearing for 30-60 days after the fact. In this market, that's particularly damaging because those figures are huge in establishing an offer or sales price. October #'s should be available soon- that'll provide a better gauge of where things are. At this juncture, it's hard to say if they're (the county) even caught up with September #'s. Based on the crowing of real estate companies out there, sales did occur, but absent the sold pricing, it's just crowing without beak. It might be a good idea to wait and see what #'s occurred in the months that have been represented as a turn around so that you have a clear picture of what IS, in hard data.

Thanks, eastendagent, that's helpful info.

I know for a fact that two properties in the Noyac/Sag Harbor area *at least* went into contract last month. Not sure where they are in the sales process, but the deals have not fallen through or my agent would have told me.

However, ITA with Going Down that it's amazing how few sales period there are for this calendar year - as reflected both this site and on Zillow.

Do you guys ever use www.eppraisal.com to get a read? I tend to follow the valuations provided by cyberhomes.com- a little bit more realistic that Zillow, and both estimates show up when you do a property search on eppraisal. Public portals vary with enough significance that tryng several is a good idea, perhaps. There are also some other avenues for correct valuations/public records, if a monthly fee isn't an issue- worth the investment.

@ eastendagent - Thanks for the site above - I like it - very accessible and seems, as you said, to be a more stable and realistic valuation than Zillow.

alurker, it's a starting point.The problem with all of the sites is that they're only as good as the data provided- public records taking so long in this environment is not good.

hamptons.com in their real estate section publishes a very good set of transfers for each week.. They are now up to the end of october. Check it out as the info is very useful. Transactions are taking place and the sale prices are certainly down from the highs but nothing is a steal. The hamptons have held up pretty well and I would guess prices are down around 20% from the 07 highs on average.

so according to hamptons.com, on average, 28 homes have been closing in the hamptons each week since 10/1/09.

compare that with data from hreo.com, which shows that there have been, on average, 100 new listings each week during the same period -- or more than 800 new listings since 10/1/09.

the total listings as of today on hreo.com stand at 7544

so it would take roughly 269 weeks -- thats more than 67 months, which is more than 5 years -- to work thru current inventory levels at the current pace of sales.

factor in an average sales price of about $1.5M per listing (give or take) and it works out to well over $11 Billion in inventory.

houston, er hamptons, we have a problem.

Just a word of caution: checked out the most recent transfers on hamptons.com.
One of the closings is a closing that we participated in. This closing occurred on JULY 21, 2009, but is just now showing up.
If at all possible, when seeking comps, get the most current. July closed prices are not indicative of the current market (you need closings within 30 days for accuracy- this market is a moving target).

Only a fool would buy before the end of this year. I expect a big time sale come February when sellers try to outdo one another to dump their properties.

Local Hamptons brokerage Town & Country Real Estate has released its 4th quarter market report and it looks like ’09 ended with a nice little pop: 47% increase in overall sales from '08 to '09, with median prices rising over 12%.

Looks like you may be missing the boat here. I'm back in!

Homes sales on the East End of Long Island saw a stunning leap in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a market report released today by Prudential Douglas Elliman.

The number of sales on the East End, which includes the Hamptons and North Fork, jumped 55.4 percent in the fourth quarter to 564, from 363 in the same quarter of 2008 and 22.9 percent from 459 in the third quarter, the report determined.

In the Hamptons area of Long Island's South Fork, sales skyrocketed 59 percent in the fourth quarter to 409 from 257 in the prior-year quarter, and 20.6 percent from 339 in the third quarter. Median sales prices rose 4.9 percent to $917,900 in the fourth quarter from $875,000 in the same period of 2008, and increased 13.3 percent from $810,000 in the third quarter. However, the average price of a Hamptons home -- $1.59 million -- dipped 12.3 percent from the prior-year-quarter.

The North Fork showed a similar uptick, with sales activity surging 46.2 percent to 155 from 106 in the prior-year quarter. North Fork price trends showed more weakness than the Hamptons, however. The median sales price in the North Fork in the fourth quarter was $450,000, 10 percent less than $500,000 in the same period of 2008.

The fourth quarter saw the highest level of sales on the East End in two years, said appraiser Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel, who prepared the report. (For a story about the Hamptons residential market over the last decade, click here.)

Not to put fuel on fire (I think Tiger is acting obnoxiously posting the same message on every single threat- I sympathize with his motives but this is an extremely rude behavior to everyone on the board) - anyway, I went through the list of properties we looked at late last summer, and out of probably 35 or so houses that I personally walked through, thirteen are either in contract of have been sold. Four out of four properties that were on top of our list are gone. Most of the houses went into contract after summer ended. Granted, we are very picky and I did a lot of my own research, so the places we looked at were cherry picked, but the point I guess is that if a house is well maintained and priced well, it will get sold. Plus we were looking at a relatively inexpensive price range -$1-1.5M, where activity seems to have been much more robust.

I concur with Boxer1. For the past 18 months, I have maintained a log of about 75 properties ranging from $1M to the high $2's. A decent number have traded or are marked as in contract. A lesson for me was a 1200 sq ft cottage SOH in WS. I thought, b/c of house size, the buyer pool would be narrow so did not feel pressure to act. It went into contract in 2 weeks for ~10% off list (more than I thought the house was worth). A well maintained house on a good plot of land that is priced reasonably well will sell. Based on the research, my take was the houses over the past 18 months have traded for about 20% off list (very rough average) - and I think that is tightening a bit today. Another example is a house on Meadows West in Bridge (not great). Cute house - needed updating but it was well maintained. Yard was gorgeous but got IMO an unbearable amount of noise from Scuttlehole. Sold for about 11% off list. The houses that are clogging inventory are houses that have significant compromise around them (yet everyone defines "significant compromise" differently!).

Have been looking at comps and recent sales and not found too much data in specific price range looking at even going back 6 months Taken stuff of streeteasy, hamptons.com as well as 2 agents. And working with 2 very good agents and so they have sent me all properties currently in contract in price range of 1.5m - 2.5m in easthampton and bridgehampton and it is single digits and wont get price traded at for a while. I concur with 2 comments above though that high quality well priced inentory is seeing a bid, jsut dont know NOW how low those bids are.

Here are some comps that I actually went to view that are within last 6 months and suggest much larger discounts to asking. Also given these prices are probably few months lagging am sure any current transactions that go through are at lower levels than these, some of which are v appealing numbers for buyers. PLEASE do share any other comps you have?

72 LUMBER LANE sold 23rd oct for $2.2m. , 4500 sq ft fully cleared lawn, 1.1 acres and walk into town.
1245 Millstone Road : 5800 sq ft, 2 acres, Sold 1.85m, pOOL , tennis, new build. Sold 8th August 09
323 butter lane , Sold 12/21/09 for $2.45m, 1.5 acres, all lawn about 4500 sq ft amazing house and short walk into BH.
268 Scuttle Hole Road , Water mill. SOLD 27th JUly 09, 4500 sq ft, 1 acre overlooking an agri reserve. Went for $1.665m
158 Norris Lane, lot 2 I believe. Sold $1.5m (most recent deal), 3000 sq ft +, 1 acre v near BH but comps in terms of neighbours considered weak.
348 Montauk Highway sold Dec 09. 2800 sq ft, 4 beds, cleared 1.7 acres land. Very far off highway so no real noise. Allegedly a tear down but when went to visit it they were painting inside.

shyam...thanks for summarizing the recent transactions.

are you aware of any prior sales of these properties? and therefore how the sales prices you outlined compare to those prior sales?

My objective is to get a handle on how current prices compare to past or peak pricing

YJBO Relax BIG CHOPS WILL COME If Stoxx FALL like in January 2010 A BIG Loser for OWNERS

ybjo have been going through propertyshark to get comps where can. i did notice one home which sold roughly where did in 2003. The above comps show how far off some asking prices are ie. why would I pay $2.5m to live in a smaller property with a smaller garden 8 mins drive from BH town when 72 lumber lane went for $2.2m.

I think looking at historic prices and guaging market peak and extent of declines since then is not bad way to go to get where we are.

Also the above transactions often were agreed 2/3 months before data released and not accounted for the strong regulatory backlash against bankers pay seeing now which is a serious another downward catlayst for the market, not quite as impactful as Lehmans but is very clear there are going to be major changes in way banking renumerated and the regulatory hit back only just beginning. Maybe this year they might get away with it as bounce back blindised alot of people BUT if I were a 40 something banker with couple of kids who wanted to send to some expensive university or the other down the line and was now less sure now about my long run earnigns curve and how much cash vs stock going forward, I would be a seller of my HAMPTONS home and not a buyer this year....this is what will be a further shock to sellers in the coming months

http://www.SouthamptonRE.com is a great source for current Southampton real estate transfer info

To robinson: CONGRATULATIONS! Getting the data up, as you have, is a HUGE first out there, short of waiting for the quarterly reports (that all vary, and are therefore all in question)- kudos to you for offering some transparency to buyers of real estate! I hope that you extend your reach to East Hampton- and best wishes to you in 2010...anyone looking in Southampton really should check out SouthamptonRE.com, link above- it's well worth it!

agree with eastend agent. Had actually stumbled on site previously. One feedback to robinson is would be great to maybe be able to see bit more about the homes sold (eg sq ft, acerage, more pics), but is a good way to see extent of activity in the market. Is amazing that most real estate agents cant just send you a list of all homes sold between price point in last 6 months in an area with all the pics..

THERE is no data which WILL stop you from getting Crushed EASTend agent OWNERS to LOSE Wealth in 2010...I will rent an elephant for a few Ks and laugh as OWNERS wealth MELT Away!

The trend is now higher. It buy now or be left behind. Money is still cheap, inventory is still deep. I am getting in the game in the next month. Here come the bonuses, could mean here come the bidding wars on the worth while properties. I am officially no longer a bear on this market. I have now become a raging bull.