You know times are tough when real estate agents are taking waitress jobs, albeit on Shelter Island so they don’t run into their clients while offering them the short ribs. The figures are out to prove that the Gucci belt is tightening as sales slow down. Suffolk Research Service Inc. released the first quarter figures for 2008 and present some statistics that, while sobering, are certainly not doom and gloom.
Although the median price for a single family home on the East End declined from the record-setting $690,000 in the first quarter of ’07 to $665,000 in the first quarter of ’08, the only two individual towns to see declines were Riverhead and Southold. East Hampton and Southampton saw a modest .5% increase. However, in the first quarter of ’08, the number of units sold on the East End was down from 709 to 506. Even more indicative is the 52% decline from the market high in the first quarter of 2004 where 1,073 units were sold.
President of Suffolk Research Service Inc., George Simpson, estimates that if there are 2,000 licensed real estate agents on the East End, the average agent sells one house a year. More likely the top brokers will hold onto their Porsches and a large market share while other agents may step out of the game and their leased Range Rovers completely.
But lest we forget the value of Hamptons loam, figures indicate a steady increase in the median price of residential vacant land which rose from the first quarter of 2007 at $412,000 to $735,000 in the first quarter of 2008.
And it’s a good thing for those agents that they are waiting tables on Shelter Island because it holds the current highest median price for a single family residence in the last quarter which is $1,290,000, dwarfing even East Hampton Town’s $975,000 median price and Southampton Town’s $800,000 median price.
Penelope Moore of Corcoran notes the trend, “Waterfront is always in demand, especially pieces with grandfathered aspects. Inland has also picked up. Just in the past three weeks I had new customers, mostly new to Shelter Island overall, come out and find what they’re looking for in one day. It seems that buyers are coming to the realization that not all markets are the same and Shelter Island is a unique place. In contrast to last year, the majority of my transactions this year have been financed, with no delays or problems whatsoever.”
In that case forget the short ribs, go for the filet.
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