Dow spikes nearly 900 points after plunging 700 points, skids over 200 points in the last half hour of trading… new records set — both good and bad– headlines linking current conditions to the Great Depression, OMG! whiplash and agita.
Fortunately, East End Real Estate — Hamptons, North Fork, Shelter Island— is like bedrock. In fact, the NYT article of October 24, 2008 titled “Standing Firm In The Hamptons” states “According to a report on 10-year price trends in the Hamptons compiled by Miller Samuel, the median sales price jumped from $244,000 in 1998 to $975,000 in 2007– a 300% increase. That is a bigger increase than even Manhattan experienced– roughly a 225% jump– during the same 10 year period.”
We have seen very few pull out of their deals, a small percent are renegotiating but most are closing without a hitch. The greatest trend that we are experiencing is a large population of buyers waiting… ‘waiting for the election to be over’ , ‘waiting for 2009? , or the biggie ‘waiting for the bottom’— I’d like to remind everyone we won’t know the bottom until 6 months on the other side. Additionally, real estate is meant to be a long-term investment and as we can see from the NYT article, Hampton’s real estate yields an impressive return.
In closing, it’s important to remember– the fortunes of tomorrow will be born from the fall out of today.