Douglas Elliman names Todd Bourgard as CEO for Long Island

Douglas Elliman Realty, Long Island’s largest residential real estate brokerage, said it has named Todd Bourgard as its CEO of Long Island, Hamptons and North Fork.  

Bourgard will oversee the brokerage’s roughly 2,000 agents across 36 offices in Nassau, Suffolk and Bayside, Queens. He previously was senior executive regional manager of sales for the Hamptons and North Fork, and he will continue his leadership of Douglas Elliman’s East End offices in his new role.

Bourgard said he sees opportunities for the brokerage’s East End offices to collaborate more closely with agents across Long Island.

“We want those agents to be connected with each other,” Bourgard said, noting the ability of Douglas Elliman agents to make referrals across the region as Long Islanders move or purchase second homes.

Bourgard is taking on the position during a period of change for the Long Island real estate industry. After several scorching-hot years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when interest rates were historically low, Long Island’s real estate market began to shift in late 2022. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage more than doubled in 2022, ending the year at 6.42%, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. It has since receded to 6.15%, as of Jan. 19.

There were about 35% fewer home sales that closed in December across Long Island than in the same month a year ago, and prices have started to fall slightly compared with the year before among contracts signed last month, according to OneKey MLS.

In the Hamptons, there were just 38 contracts signed to purchase single-family homes last month, which was down 63.5% from the 104 signings in December 2021, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

Bourgard told Newsday he sees a lack of listings as responsible for the slowdown because there is still demand for the houses that are available.

“I’ve seen our price levels hold pretty steady,” Bourgard said. “…If [agents] price those homes properly, we are still seeing multiple offers.”

A 25-year veteran of the industry, Bourgard joined Douglas Elliman in 2014 from Coldwell Banker to lead its Hampton Bays office. After adding oversight of several other Hamptons offices in the years that followed, Bourgard gained responsibility for all eight of the brokerage’s Hamptons offices in 2019. Last year, he started managing the firm’s three North Fork offices as well.

Howard M. Lorber, executive chairman of Manhattan-based Douglas Elliman, in a statement credited Bourgard with “spurring our tremendous growth in the Hamptons and on the North Fork, recruiting many new top-performing agents, while retaining the great talent we have attracted over the years.”

Bourgard succeeds Ann Conroy, who has served as the brokerage’s Long Island CEO for the past three years and has been with Douglas Elliman and its predecessor firms since starting as an agent at Merrill Lynch Realty in 1981.

Conroy has been named chairwoman of Douglas Elliman Long Island and will continue in an advisory capacity, the company said.

Melody Newberry will serve as vice president of operations for Long Island, the Hamptons and North Fork after previously serving in that role for the company’s East End markets.

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.