Still looking for a Hamptons rental? It’s going to be expensive.
Properties in the enclave for financiers and other wealthy New Yorkers are being listed at record prices for the upcoming summer season, with beachside mansions offered for more than $1 million a month. It’s a bet by landlords that demand for ultra-luxe rentals on eastern Long Island will be hot for a third year in a row, as Wall Street pays out its biggest bonuses in decades and many employers embrace the flexibility of hybrid work.
Yet, after two years of torrid pandemic-related demand, there are questions about whether the market can sustain those prices. Hamptons home sales are falling off as inventory dries up. Many former renters now own their own vacation homes or relocated there full time, and others are foregoing the South Fork this year to take long-delayed international trips instead.
Still, everything is more expensive these days, and landlords are pushing the envelope, betting that demand from the jet-set elite means they can set their sights even higher this summer.
One 11,000-square-foot beachfront property at 277 Surfside Drive in Bridgehampton — which offers a pool, spa, multiple fire pits, golf simulator, butler’s area in the kitchen and what the listing describes as “heroic views” — recently lowered its price from $1.5 million for the month of July to a mere $1.25 million. Another, just down the road at 155 Surfside Drive, is sticking to its ultra-high rental price of $1.65 million for July.
“I think some of those prices were a little bit over-inflated,” said Corcoran Hamptons broker Susan Breitenbach. “They certainly can rent. Whether they get exactly that amount of money, we’ll see.”
A Refuge
For decades, the Hamptons have been an essential destination for wealthy Wall Streeters and celebrities during the summer months. Beyonce and Jerry Seinfeld mingle with billionaires including Citadel’s Ken Griffin and Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black, and many B-listers flock to the region to see and be seen.
The area’s popularity, once a mostly seasonal phenomenon, ramped up during the pandemic, when the Hamptons became a refuge for New Yorkers who had the flexibility to work from home and the money to escape the city. As international travel restrictions remained in place, the region’s proximity and ease of access caused home values to spike, taking rental property prices up with them.
The average daily rate for Hamptons rentals between May and September rose 22% from 2018 to 2021, according to data from AirDNA, a rental analytics company.
Going into the third summer season after the Covid outbreak, prices indicate that landlords remain optimistic.