Houses that typically went for $70,000 a month are now “only” going for $45,000 a month.
Boo hoo. I can only hope that it’s happening to speculators who bought at the top of our current real estate bubble:
The rental market in the Hamptons is facing an unexpected chill this summer.
After two years of strong demand and soaring prices, the supply of rentals in the Hamptons is surging, leading to a wave of last-minute price cuts. Median rental prices in the first quarter fell 26%, according to Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel. Brokers say some owners are slashing prices by 30% or more just to fill their properties.
“There is a tremendous amount of inventory and people are not renting it,” said Enzo Morabito of Douglas Elliman. “And it’s across all segments, from the very low to the very top of the market.”
The weakness marks a dramatic and rapid reversal for one of the country’s highest-priced and most sought-after real-estate markets. In 2020 and 2021, renters were scrambling to find summer rentals and paying record prices months before the season for fear of missing out. Now, brokers say there are hundreds of rentals still available for the summer.
Morabito said he represented one waterfront rental that was asking $70,000 a month, but a potential renter offered just $45,000.
“We were hoping the renter would split the difference, but it’s a different market right now,” he said.
One of these days — not today, but likely not far in future — lots of these beachfront houses and condos are going to be selling for bargain-basement prices as buyers finally wise up to the fact that some basements will be filled with water and a powerful hurricane will wash many of these houses out to sea.
What happening right now in many beachfront communities appears to be more a function of greedy landowners who overpriced their rentals during the pandemic. It’s happening on the shores of Cape Cod, too.
