Can we expect new wave of inventory over next few months for seasonal reasons?

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.)