Ponquogue Point, a new privatewaterfront townhouse and town-home development under con-struction, for buyers seeking alock and leave second home, onThursday, Aug. 11, 2016, at 68Foster Avenue, in Hampton Bays.

Welcome to the New Hampton Bays

Cost-conscious home buyers migrate to the Hamlet

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H ampton Bays is at-tracting price-con-scious househunters seeking toavoid the glitzier

beachfront communities farthereast.

The hamlet’s growing popular-

ity is part of a trend seen fromNew York City to Long Island,Westchester and Connecticut, ashome buyers opt for less expen-sive areas, real estate experts say.The result is a rise in home val-ues and sales activity in Hamp-tonBays and other outlying com-munities that once struggled toget buyers’ attention.

The median price of homes

sold in Hampton Bays has risenby 24 percent in the last fiveyears, to $435,000 in the threemonths ending June 30, the mostrecent report from the brokerageDouglas Elliman and the ap-praisal company Miller Samuelshows. The number of salesgrew by 68 percent in the sameperiod, with 69 closed transac-tions in the April-to-June period.

That outpaces home pricegains in other areas of Long Is-land. In the Hamptons as awhole, the median price in-creased by 4 percent in fiveyears, to $975,000 in the secondquarter. Across Long Island —excluding the East End — themedian price rose by 9 percent,to $382,000, over the same pe-riod.

Some local real estate agentsand developers compare Hamp-ton Bays’ growing popularitywith the migration of manyhome buyers from Manhattan torelatively more affordable sec-tions of Brooklyn and Queens.

In Hampton Bays, “You defi-nitely can get more for your

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money than you can farthereast, and that’s also the case inthe boroughs, or it used to bethe case,” said Patrick Galway,an associate broker with Town& Country Real Estate inWest-hampton.

Even so, local real estate ex-perts say they expect HamptonBays homevalues tomake grad-ual gains, not the sharp spikesseen in the city’s outer bor-oughs. “We go at a nice, steadypace, and houses don’t get in-sane in price,” said Susan vonFreddi Gassman, president ofVillage Real Estate in HamptonBays and head of the HamptonBaysBeautificationAssociation.

In the Hamptons and acrossthe New York City metropoli-tan area, home buyers are try-ing to “solve the affordability

problem,” said Jonathan Miller,chief executive of the Manhat-tan-based appraisal companyMiller Samuel, which tracksmarkets throughout the region.

“Hampton Bays and moremodestly priced markets likethis are thriving, just like theyare across all of Long Island;this is not unique to the Hamp-tons,” Miller said. “We’re seeingit in the city, the borough ofQueens now is setting recordprices as a result of thespillover from Brooklyn.”

Fixing up propertiesWith values rising, many

Hampton Bays homeownersare remodeling long-neglectedproperties, real estate agentssay. Downtown shopkeepersare fixing up their facades.

The hamlet’s growing popu-larity has attracted the atten-

tion of developers, too. On thesite of the former Allen’s AcresMotel, 21 town houses at thePonquogue Point developmentare under construction, listed atpre-completion prices of$700,000 to $1.55 million.Amenities include a floatingdock, pool, lawn chess, boccieand a dog run. An in-house inte-rior designer, Sage Soli, canhelp buyers choose fixtures, fur-niture and art. Before buyersmove in, Soli said, “we’ll evenpick out your linens, launderthem for you, make your bed.”

Three units have gone intocontract — including a cornerwaterfront town house for $2.2million — and potential buyershave put down refundable de-posits for another three, accord-ing to the developer, PeterSperry, and his representatives.

Hampton Bays is “an under-

valued area,” Sperry said. “I justlooked at it as an unbelievableopportunity.”

The development’s locationnear highways and a train sta-tion is a boon, said Tyus Ghol-son, the real estate agent han-dling sales. “You don’t have todrive, but if you do drive it cantake an hour and a half,” Ghol-son said.

Along the Shinnecock Canal,developers Gregg and MitchellRechler’s R Squared Develop-ment LLC is seeking to build37 luxury town houses on theeastern side of the waterwayand restore the long-vacantCanoe Place Inn on the west-ern side. Residents ofSouthampton Town have fileda lawsuit to block the develop-

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Home buyers looking for attainableproperties are pushing prices higher

Above, a four-bedroom home on Bergen Avenue includes a tenniscourt and swimming pool.

IN THE SUN

Listed at

$799,000

HAMPTON BAYS HAS ITS DAY

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Interior designer Sage Soli of East Quogue arranges a table in a garden unit at Ponquogue Point.

ment, saying local officialsfailed to address potential prob-lems with traffic, wastewaterand flooding.

Mitchell Rechler, a partnerwith R Squared, said thebuilders expect to get their finalapprovals by the end of the yearand complete construction byearly 2018. He said he expects adecision will be reached in thedevelopers’ favor shortly, but hedeclined to comment furtherabout the lawsuit.

“We love Hampton Bays, wethink it’s a great community,and it’s perfectly located,” Rech-

ler said.Prices for three-bedroom

units are expected to start at$1.6 million, and amenities willinclude boat slips and a healthclub, Rechler said.

“It seems like you’ve gotmore people looking to investin Hampton Bays, which is ex-citing because it’s definitelygoing to increase the values,”said Galway, of Town & Coun-try. “We really don’t have a lotof condos out here and a lot ofpeople are looking for that typeof property.”

The Shinnecock Canal has

long been the dividing line be-tween the priciest — and mostprestigious — areas to the east,and the more affordable zonesto the west. But now the mil-lion-dollar-plus market is mak-ing faster gains in the west thanin the east. In communitieswest of the canal, suchasHamp-ton Bays, Westhampton andQuogue, there were 152 sales ofhomes priced at $1 million andup in the second quarter, 55 per-cent more than five years ear-lier,Miller Samuel figures show.

East of the canal, in communi-ties such as Southampton, East

Hampton and Montauk, therewere 718 sales of $1 million-and-up homes, a gain of 43 per-cent over the same period.

Among the hamlet’s attrac-tions: three bays, oceanfrontparkland, waterfront restau-rants, beachfront concerts, abustling downtown and a trainstation. A new park is underconstruction, with an 800-seatoutdoor amphitheater set toopen in October.

‘More of a casual lifestyle’“It’s a little bit more of a ca-

sual lifestyle” in Hampton Bays,compared with other Hamp-tons communities, said TerryThompson, a real estate agentwith Douglas Elliman inSouthampton. And comparedwith the North Fork, she said,“there’s a little bit more action,a little more hustle-bustle.”

With access to the Shin-necock Inlet and the Shin-necock, Peconic and Tianabays, “anywhere you go you hitwater, and that’s what peoplelove about it,” said Tahir Baig,a real estate agent with Dou-glas Elliman in Southampton.

Ever since the Town ofSouthampton, which includesHampton Bays, imposed a newlocal law in 2007 requiring per-mits and inspections forrentals, Hampton Bays haslargely shed the group rentals

that gave it a rambunctious rep-utation, local residents say.

Hampton Bays has just over8,000 housing units, mostlysingle-family homes dating tothe 1950s through 1980s, cen-sus figures show. The hamlethas about 12,700 year-roundresidents — but the popula-tion nearly triples, to 34,600, inthe summer, according to theSuffolk County Division ofPlanning & Environment. Bycontrast, the Village ofSouthampton has about 3,150year-round residents, and fourtimes that many— 13,340 — inthe summer.

Year-round residents includeprofessionals as well as thosewho hold jobs in restaurants,stores andmarinas, locals say.

High property taxes put a bur-den on some residents, espe-cially senior citizens, saidMaudKramer, a former president ofthe Hampton Bays Beautifica-tion Association. “I do thinkpeople find it hard to afford thetaxes here,” Kramer said. “A lotof older persons who live on afixed income would feel thatit’s difficult, and that’s ashame.”

Some senior citizens whohave owned their homes fordecades use reverse mortgagesto withdraw equity, von FreddiGassman said. Despite the hightaxes, the hamlet remains rela-tively low-cost, she said.

“A lot of people live herewhocan’t afford to live farther east,and I’m including lawyers anddoctors and teachers, very so-phisticated, educated peoplewho just can’t afford to live in a$2 million house,” von FreddiGassman said.

And vacation home buyersare finding a community theylike.

Kamron Keshtgar, 53, a com-puter consultant who lives inNew York City, said he and hiswife looked at more than 50homes throughout the East Endbefore settling on a circa-1900vacation home in HamptonBays about a year and a half ago.The price — $420,000 — wasjust one attraction.

“Hampton Bays is more laidback and more friendly,” withmore to do and more youngchildren for the couple’s6-year-old daughter to playwith, he said. Their neighbors“are all hardworking peoplewith a lot of pride in what theydo and where they live.”

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BY THENUMBERSHampton Baysyear-round population:12,712Hampton Bays totalsummer population:34,608Source: Suffolk County Division of Planning &Environment 2010-2014 estimates

Hampton Baysmedian home price:$435,000Hampton Baysfive-year gain inmedian home price:24 percentSource: Miller Samuel and Douglas Ellimansecond-quarter report

Best places tolive: East End

Listed at

$1.45M

Real estate agent Tahir Baig with Douglas Elliman gives a tour of a West Tiana Road home.

Condos

$700,000to $1.55M

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