TOWN & COUNTRY REAL ESTATE’S 4th Quarter Home Sales Report is predominantly in the BLACK.
Suffice to say there are few surprises here. As stated in our 3rd Q Report, activity levels have increased in all markets as of summer 2009 and since our Reports are a year to year evaluation, no one should be surprised to see significant increases nearly across the board, for last year this time was the worst I have experienced in my nearly three decades in East End Real Estate.
Closer scrutiny of the 11 individual Markets monitored by TOWN & COUNTRY we find the market leading the way out of the stagnation of our local housing recession was BRIDGEHAMPTON (which includes Water Mill and Sagaponack) clear across the board in every way. The Total Home Sales Volume in BRIDGEHAMPTON (which includes Water Mill and Sagaponack) broke the sound barrier with an amazing 266.4% increase. The Number of Home Sales more than doubled (up 140%) from 15 in 4th Q 2008 to 36 in 4th Q 2009. The third criteria studied by TOWN & COUNTRY is Median Home Sales Price where an increase of over 70% was seen in BRIDGEHAMPTON (which includes Water Mill and Sagaponack) from $1.525M to $2.6M (2008 to 2009).
Now before we all pop the corks, let us remember the BRIDGEHAMPTON market (which includes Water Mill and Sagaponack) was one of the hardest hit markets by this recession. This may be primarily due to the buying population consisting of a significant number of those in the banking industry.
The SAG HARBOR AREA (which includes Noyac and North Haven) experienced an unusual phenomenon. The Number of Home Sales shot up an incredible 125% (8 to18) while the Median Home Sales Price dropped sharply 42% from $1.3M to $750,000. It seems the lower end experienced a 200% increase in sales.
Nearly all 11 Markets monitored by TOWN & COUNTRY realized significant gains in the Number of Home Sales with the sole exception of SAG HARBOR VILLAGE where there was a single sale drop from 7 to 6 Sales 4th Q 2008 com- pared to the same period to 2009.
EAST HAMPTON VILLAGE took a bit of a hair cut in both Total Home Sales Volume (down 35%) and Median Home Sales Price (down 28%) but this may be more relative to a lack of good inventory vs. a lack of demand. Viewing the 6 different price categories in ALL HAMPTONS MARKETS COMBINED clearly demonstrates a surge in the $1-3.5M price categories and the best performance in the Number of Sales was at the $5M and up, which went from 10 to 18 in the 4th Q 2008 to 4th Q 2009.
Overall, looking at ALL HAMPTONS MARKETS COMBINED makes calls for the “Happy Dance” down Main Street! And while the statistics are impressive, we are really looking at the rebound of off the floor. There are very few who are sad to see 2009 leave us. Here’s to a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010 to all.
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