As Hamptons Listings Dry Up, Brokers Point Elsewhere

10 minutes read

Inventory in the Hamptons is in a slump — and some brokers don’t seem thrilled we said so.

Earlier this month, The Real Deal reported a notable drop in listings across the Hamptons, especially at the high end, where a particularly active 2025 further exacerbated existing supply issues. Brokers from across the South Fork’s hamlets flooded the comments of an Instagram post about the story, pointing to their teams’ reportedly deep benches of available homes. (That may be true, but it didn’t move the numbers in the first quarter.)

The pushback also came with suggestions for buyers, and this reporter, to look to seaside towns in other parts of the tri-state area and beyond as alternatives to the luxury enclave. Two commenters proposed Bellport, Long Island, and another the coast of Maine. A reader emailed TRD a blog post advising people “skip the Hamptons” in favor of Saybrook Point, Connecticut.

Others pointed to the North Fork, which has, in fact, absorbed some of the spillover from the Hamptons in recent years, evidenced by rising prices, high-profile deals and a wave of high-end businesses setting up shop in the area, including, most recently, a luxury yacht company moving into Southold. Some brokers trading in the upper echelons of New York City’s market have capitalized on the spread by planting their own flags in the North Fork, including Compass’ Carl Gambino and the Gambino Group.

But the Hamptons aren’t going anywhere. For all the articles over the years declaring its decline, the market’s desirability for owners has largely stayed intact, even as demand for summer rentals has ebbed and flowed and seasonality has shifted. It’s still a top destination for people shopping for a second home, especially with record Wall Street bonuses lining their pockets, which is one of the reasons there wasn’t much left to buy at the end of the first quarter.

Other coastal markets may have their benefits, but none are likely to replace the Hamptons, at least, not anytime soon. But even if they did, buyers wouldn’t necessarily be escaping the low supply problem they’re facing in the Hamptons, as inventory has been generally constrained across the Northeast since the pandemic.

While the Hamptons may be among the tightest markets, it isn’t alone in struggling to refill its listing coffers. Take the North Fork, for example. Inventory picked up slightly last quarter, but listings were still only half of the decade average, according to data from appraiser Jonathan Miller.

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Michael Stern and Kevin Maloney’s Billionaires’ Row tower is down to its final unit after launching sales nearly a decade ago. The supertall at 111 West 57th Street got off to a rocky start, plagued by loan defaults, lawsuits and a delayed sales launch. Though the skyscraper logged several pricey deals in its early sales days, momentum appeared slow to catch on until Nikki Field and her team at Sotheby’s International took over the project in 2024 and offloaded the last 23 of its 60 units. Read more about the building’s journey by TRD’s Jake Indursky.

NYC Deal of the Week

The most expensive sale to hit the city rolls this week was for a condo at Zeckendorf Development’s 15 Central Park West, which closed for nearly $22 million, or roughly $6,900 per square foot.

Unit 27D last traded in 2007, when attorney Hector Torres and his wife, Helen Torres, paid $8.9 million for the then-new development unit. The apartment spans 3,200 square feet and has four bedrooms and four bathrooms.

Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang and her former senior team member, Andres Perea-Garzon, had the listing. Jeremy Swillinger of FIND Real Estate represented the buyer, a trust linked to an AI executive with Heritage Bank of Commerce.