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the covert report - august in the hamptons

August 22, 2023

Sitting at my desk on a breezy Tuesday in August, and I am a bit baffled as to where summer has gone. Maybe it's an El Niño thing, or maybe it's just the new pace of the Hamptons real estate market. Neither has been all that sunny, but both not a total washout either.

Just like the weather, each time it seems like we are setting up for a nice run of market activity, the momentum tends to bust and we end with metaphorical humid, cloudy, and damp conditions. But then there are those surprise days where all seems sunny. \_(°_°)_/

Long gone are the go-go-go days of the last three seasons, and the market looks to have settled into a bit of a slog, with a persistent lack of inventory slowing transactional volume, and a general malaise the prevailing vibe. Buyers have returned to the days of seeking value, and Sellers are showing no real motivation to sell - if locked into rates at 2% or lower, and with nothing appealing to buy, who can blame them? Urgency is absolutely nowhere to be found.

That said, I am starting to see an increase in listings that will come to market as we head toward Labor Day, and the question is, will pricing meet the market, and will deals happen in what are traditionally the busy months of September and October? The playing field certainly has leveled off in the Buyer v. Seller equation, and it will just be a question of who blinks first in our current standoff. So the ultimate question is whether it’s time to buy or time to sell, and the answer is yes for both, but for very different reasons. At the end of the day, an asset like Hamptons real estate is safe, secure, and over time a solid investment that will almost always appreciate.

Finally, if you have read my newsletters in the past, you will know that I love talking real estate in depth, so if you have any questions about a specific property or market segment, please feel free to reach out.

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