Suffolk Research Real Estate Market Data

According to George Simpson, president of Hampton Bays-based Suffolk Research Service, Inc., the real estate market on the East End is looking up.

In a report issued at the end of January, Mr. Simpson wrote that the real estate market on the East End of Long Island has shown improvement in all three of the market indicator segments—median price, unit sales and dollar sales—from 2009 to 2010. Additionally, the fourth quarter of 2010 showed an uptick from the previous quarter in the areas of median price and dollar sales, though unit sales were down, according to Mr. Simpson’s research.

Real estate figures from the last five years, including data from each of the five East End towns—Southampton, East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island and Southold—were included in Mr. Simpson’s report.

According to his data, in 2010, the median price for a single family home on the East End was $650,000 and there were 2,291 unit sales, accounting for nearly $3 billion in total home sales. In 2009, the median price for a single family home was 605,000 and there were 1,696 unit sales, accounting for just over $2 billion. Using that information, the median price of a single family home from 2009 to 2010 rose by $45,000 and there were 595 more unit sales in the past year than in 2009, and close to $1 billion more in total dollar sales.

Going back two years, in 2008, the median price for a single family home was $650,000 and there were 1,973 unit sales, accounting for almost $2.7 billion. In 2007, the biggest year in real estate here on the East End in terms of dollar sales, the median price for a single family home was $740,000 and there were 2,867 unit sales, accounting for nearly $4.2 billion. In 2006, the median price for a single family home was $660,000 and there were 3,148 unit sales, accounting for just under $3.9 billion.

Breaking down the 2010 numbers by town, the median price for a single family home in Southampton increased to $800,000, compared to the 2009 median of $789,144. In East Hampton, the median price in 2010 was $962,500, up from $909,931 in 2009. The median price also rose in Riverhead, $365,000 in 2010, compared to $355,000 in 2009. Median price gained in Shelter Island as well, $935,750 in 2010, up from $899,000 in 2009. Southold was the only town down in 2010, the median sales price in 2010 was $440,000, dipping slightly from $462,500 in 2009.