Real Estate Booming in the Hamptons

The Hamptons situated on the South Fork of Long Island, New York are well known for being a magnet for the wealthy. Despite this fact, up until this year the real estate market for The Hamptons was at an all time low.   Properties on The Hamptons may have been exclusively for the wealthy, but they were by no means exclusive from the effects of the recession. Just as the rest of the market was flooded with average priced houses that would not sell, so were The Hamptons.   The real estate market In the Hamptons was burdened with properties with selling prices that were so high that sales became a real rarity. An article on Reuters.com reported on a house that was orginally listed for $5.8 million only selling for a measley $2.75 million, which is less than half of the initial asking price. As anyone who has a vague idea of business will know that a final selling price is not good for profits.   During this time many people in the real estate industry wrote off The Hamptons as a place to make profit. However new figures have suggested that the worst may be over.   According to an article on the Business Insider website sales of properties on The Hamptons are now at a 5 year high. They quote statistics from reports by Miller Samuel Inc and Douglas Elliman Real Estate, which state that transactions were up 9.6% with 539 transactions being made during the second quarter of 2012. Out of the total 539 transactions, 38 were of properties with a value of over $5 million.   There are a number of reasons why the real estate market on The Hamptons has picked up. Prices of properties have lowered down to levels that seem a lot more reasonable. Job growth has increased and banks are beginning to start lending a little more. Many brokers have also stated that the number of foreign buyers of housing on The Hamptons has increased significantly and this has helped sales a great deal.   The great thing is that although sales have increased, prices of properties are still pretty low. The 2012 Elliman Report (downloadable PDF) quotes the average sale price as $423,393. This indicates that the environment is perfect for people and companies wishing to buy properties on The Hamptons, for the purpose of selling them when the market picks up even more to make a bigger profit. One real estate broker working for Brown Harris Stevens was able to buy and sell one house, then buy another to sell all in less than six months.   The market really is booming in The Hamptons, New York and there is no better time to purchase some real estate whilst it is still cheap, in order to get a great return on your investment in the future.   This guest post was written by Endre Rex-Kiss, freelance writer and guest blogger in topics ranging from finance, real estate and social media. This time he represents FidelisAM, a US based company providing resident screening services. Connect with him on Twitter.