56 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • AUGUST 2020
PRESS HOME
LONG ISLAND’S
PANDEMIC HOUSING BOOM
continued from page 55
Nationwide, there was a 20.7 percent
increase in existing-home sales —
which includes single-family homes,
townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops
— between May and June of this year,
according to the National Association of
Realtors.
The total home sales volume for the
Hamptons market skyrocketed 34 percent
from $1.4 billion in 2019 to nearly
$2 billion so far in 2020, according to the
Town & Country Real Estate Hamptons
Mid-Year 2020 Home Sales Report.
The drastic increase is largely credited
to the Village of Southampton, which had
five of the nine sales above $20 million.
The most common sales, however, are
between $1 million and $4 million for a
single-family home.
“Most of them that are coming out here
have been here before and I think they
really view it as a good investment,” said
Bourgard. “Many have rented, some
came out for weeks at a time, vacationing
out here. It’s a place they’re familiar with
and love to be at.”
The North Fork has not experienced the
same increased prices as elsewhere on
the Island. The East End experienced the
most substantial rate of annual decline
in listing inventory in at least 13 years
of tracking, according to the Douglas
Elliman Market Report.
While the Hamptons have become a
haven for those evacuating the city,
many homebuyers who already live in
Nassau and Suffolk counties are moving
elsewhere on Long Island.
The average sales price for Nassau and
Suffolk grew 4.3 percent from $523,997
to $546,399, including condo and one- to
three-family sales, according to Douglas
Elliman Real Estate’s Quarterly Market
Report, provided by Miller Samuel Inc.
appraisers and consultants.
“There are people moving up from their
first-time home,” said Ann Conroy, CEO
of Douglas Elliman Real Estate’s Long Island
Division. “There are people moving
out from Queens and the city. Most of it is
actual Long Islanders who intend to live
on Long Island.
“The percentage of people coming from
outside of the Long Island marketplace
obviously adds to the new influx of buyers
but it’s not everybody,” she continued.
“Everybody thinks it’s everybody coming
from the city and that’s just not true.”
At the peak of the pandemic, Manhattan
residents wanted to escape their close
quarters — but so did everyone else.
The Long Island real estate market has
become a post-quarantine game of who
can get the most space with the most
versatility.
“People like their space now,” said
Conroy. “They like their larger homes.
They’re looking for amenities in their
homes. For example, an office space so
that they can work without noise from
the family. They like recreational things
like pools; they like gyms in their houses...
The home has become a little bit more
of an all-purpose center.”
Unsurprisingly, condominiums on Long
Island, including the Hamptons, have
dropped in price and sales.
Remarkably low interest rates are
powering the higher selling prices
throughout the Island. As of mid-July,
rates had fallen to as low as 3.24 percent
for a 30-year fixed mortgage rate, according
to Bankrate.com. High demand,
low inventory, and an anomaly of a low
interest rate make the perfect recipe to
sell a home.
“It’s very important that people evaluate
their lifestyle, and where they are and
where they want to be...,” said Conroy.
“It’s really about the home becoming so
much more important. That’s what is
really driving this.”
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“Everybody thinks it’s everybody coming from the
city and that’s just not true,” said Ann Conroy.
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