Even though the Hamptons can feel like a million miles — and dollars — away from the rest of the market, its residential scene couldn’t avoid the same pitfalls as the rest of the country.
The year was off to a hot start for the brokerages that rule Out East, but that was cut short by tariffs, stubborn interest rates and political instability.
“We were really expecting 2025 to sort of be our climb back into a really strong market after the last couple of years,” said Joe Fuer, Compass managing director in the Hamptons.
Instead, after a first quarter that saw a number of firms posting double-digit year-over-year gains, the second quarter is where “things start to come undone,” according to Andrew Saunders, the president of Saunders & Associates.
Low inventory and high interest rates continued to be bugaboos, and President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in mid-April added to the pressure on the market.
“We did have a few deals that were almost at the finish line, and the buyers just lost confidence and didn’t go through with those deals,” Fuer said.
A number of firms managed to post improved numbers from June 2024 to June 2025, as the top 10 brokerages racked up $10.2 billion across 2,580 deals. In the previous 12-month period, the top 10 firms had a sales volume of $7.3 billion across 1,830 deals. The rankings are based on both buy- and sell-side transactions over $1 million in that one-year period from publicly available listings and data provided by brokerages.
With more deals to go around, there was also more movement in the rankings. Compass, which posted $2.18 billion across 585 deals, knocked off Douglas Elliman’s two-year reign as the top brokerage in the Hamptons. Elliman did $2.16 billion across 593 deals — good enough for second place.
“There’s basically 1,450 listings for sale, and we have over 2,000 brokers out here — you can imagine what a free-for-all it is.”
Corcoran jumped from fourth to third with about $1.5 billion across 383 deals, switching places with Saunders & Associates, which did nearly $1.4 billion in sales across 426 deals. Sotheby’s International Realty rounded out the top five with more than $1 billion in sales across 228 deals.
The top five brokerages changed places, but the same names managed to hold on to their status as the leading firms despite a number of new entrants to the market since the pandemic.
Serhant and the Modlin Group were among the Manhattan-based brokerages that opened their own shops in the region, and a franchise under the Los Angeles-based Agency brand debuted in 2023.
“Those brokerages that came out here are still out here,” said Elliman’s Todd Bourgard, the CEO of the brokerage’s Long Island, Hamptons and North Fork regions. “Of course, it changes the dynamic in the sense that they’re taking a piece of the pie.”
But Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman said that these new entrants may have a tough time making meaningful waves in the market if they’re not careful about establishing local boots on the ground. The Hamptons, in her experience, aren’t plug and play.
“Sometimes brokers want to open in markets that have a high publicity value and sexy, expensive deals,” Liebman said. “It’s not just splashing cash. It’s a real business, and these are real homes for a lot of people.”
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Luxury sales take the lead
As the summer of 2024 faded into the fall, residential brokerages in the Hamptons were trudging toward the end of the year. By the time December rolled around, the enclave’s dossier of top deals was significantly lower than the previous year, with the 10 most expensive sales totaling $327 million compared to $511 million in 2023.
Although the deal volume was lower at the very top, “the luxury segment was still really pushing that market along, of course, because it’s less affected by higher interest rates,” said Liebman.
Liebman added that the lower end of the market struggled to keep pace, as buyers in that range are more susceptible to the pains that come with high mortgage rates and many of them plan to use their properties as investments, “maybe rent it out for a month or so.”
“The rental market was only okay, not amazing,” she added.
But “the tone really shifted” as 2024 turned to 2025, Liebman said. Within the first two months of the year, the Hamptons logged a $70 million deal for a waterfront estate in Amagansett. The 7-acre property at 370 and 372 Further Lane traded in two transactions after hitting the market last summer for $89 million, with brokers from Elliman and Sotheby’s International brokering the sale.
“There seems to be a greater number of those so-called big money buyers right now floating around in the Hamptons,” said Saunders.
The sale of a sprawling, half-built estate in Southampton closed in December for $40 million. The property at 1320 Meadow Lane had been on the market since 2018, when the seller halted construction plans. The listing was a co-exclusive with Corcoran’s Tim Davis and Bespoke Real Estate, which ranked seventh with about $536 million across 48 deals.
“This year, we’ve seen more realistic seller expectations,” said Bespoke co-founder Cody Vichinsky. “They’ve gone through the motions of trying to sell over the last several years in a high-rate, high- volatility environment” to no avail. “Now you’re starting to see deals happen.”
“Once prices came down to a point where buyers recognize value, that’s when they transacted,” said Sotheby’s International Realty’s Nanette Hansen.
The broker cited the $29 million sale of 623 Halsey Neck Lane in Southampton, which dropped its asking price from $52 million to $34 million in April. Sotheby’s Harald Grant and Corcoran’s Tim Davis co-listed the property.
Aside from seller flexibility, Vichinsky said that buyers are also starting to pull the trigger on homes they’ve been eyeing as they come to terms with a market that’s still “compressed” by a lack of inventory.
Despite a few top-dollar deals at the start of the year, the Hamptons is still yearning for a nine-figure sale, which it hasn’t seen since 2023, when Vichinsky’s listing at 700 Meadow Lane closed for $112 million.
“I’ve made many nine-figure offers this year,” Vichinsky said. “Nobody wants to take it.”
The Hamptons is a discretionary market, which means many of the homes bought and sold across the towns and hamlets on the East End are people’s second, third, fourth or 10th property. Sellers typically don’t have to part with their assets unless there’s “divorce or distress,” as Vichinsky put it.
“Frankly, [they] don’t need the money,” Vichinsky said.
An agent “free-for-all”
Several managers cited low inventory numbers as an issue that has continued to plague the Hamptons, bringing more competition for fewer listings.
“There’s basically 1,450 listings for sale, and we have over 2,000 brokers out here — you can imagine what a free-for-all it is,” Saunders said.
Some brokerages have responded by seeking new recruits from competitors, leading to a number of high-profile agents swapping shops.
“My agents are getting calls from everybody out there every day,” Fuer said. “It’s been very competitive.”
Two of Elliman’s top agents, mother-daughter duo Michaela and Paulina Keszler, left the brokerage for Sotheby’s in December. Michaela Keszler placed 15th in TRD’s latest ranking of the top agents in the Hamptons.
At the start of the summer, Terry Cohen, who previously led one of the top-producing teams at Hedgerow, jumped from the boutique brokerage to Compass. She joined the Hamptons’ leading brokerage as an independent agent, leaving behind the remaining members of her team.
In July, Yorgos Tsibiridis, who’d spent more than a decade at Compass in the Hamptons, jumped to Sotheby’s as well.
Hansen said she thinks the added competition will only help in the long run.
“Having more competition out here ultimately benefits sellers and landlords,” she said. “The pie is big enough for all of us, and I think the cream rises to the top.”
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