Even The Rich Are Tightening Their Belts As Summer Rentals In the Hamptons Are Down 30%

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If you want to gauge how much confidence the wealthy have about the economy, look no further than the Hamptons. The luxury Long Island enclave, where the well-heeled think nothing about spending $450,000 on renting a home for the summer season, is down by 30% on last year's rental numbers.
Renting in the Hamptons during the summer for the ultra-rich, from investment bankers to celebrities, offers access to exclusive parties and social gatherings. It comes with a price, which this year seems out of reach for some. 'People are holding on to their money,' Enzo Morabito, head of the Hamptons-based Enzo Morabito Team at Douglas Elliman Brokerage (NYSE:DOUG), told CNBC's Inside Wealth. 'They don't like uncertainty.'
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The uncertainty Morabito refers to is economic uncertainty, CNBC says, sparked by stock market volatility and tariff unpredictability, which has caused renters to press pause. As a result, large waterfront properties that would have normally been rented by March or April are still vacant.
Owners have lowered their prices. 'This year, I have great rentals available in every town, from Southampton to Montauk,' Hamptons broker Gary DePersia from the Corcoran Group told CNBC. He is, however, hopeful for a mid-season turnaround. 'I think a number of people have deferred decisions, or they weren't sure what [they were] going to do, go to Europe or the West Coast,' he said. 'They will realize they want to be in the Hamptons; they have a lot of friends and colleagues here, and then they start scurrying around for rentals.'
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Despite the sluggish start to the rental season, home sales in the Hamptons have been booming, a possible result of stock market volatility, with investors preferring to secure their cash in real estate. The median sales price for a Hamptons home is $2 million, up 13% from last year and almost double what it was five years ago, according to Douglas Elliman's recent Hampton's sales report.
In addition, sales were up 86% in the first quarter compared to the same time last year, according to the report, indicating that real estate has been a safe haven for investors spooked by the stock market; however, the inverse is true when it comes to renters.
'The tired story of the housing recovery coming out of the pandemic is high prices, low sales,' Jonathan Miller, head of real estate appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel, who co-authored the Douglas Elliman report, told Business Insider. 'The Hamptons doesn't fit that pattern. It's high prices and high sales.'
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Susan Breitenbach, a Hamptons agent with the Corcoran Group, has been a direct beneficiary of soaring sales. Business Insider reports that she has closed more deals this year than she did in the entirety of last year. Recent sales have included a $17.5 million waterfront property in Bridgehampton, an Amagansett residence for $13 million, a Sag Harbor home for $21 million, and a Southampton property for $5.6 million. Her most recent listing is a $44.5 million estate situated on 2.5 acres of oceanfront property, bordering Southampton and Bridgehampton. 'It's not about the house, it's about the land,' she says. 'And that's a deal.'
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