Sagaponack, Water Mill near top of list for high-priced home sales in U.S.

Two wealthy Southampton communities are the second and third most expensive ZIP codes in the nation, based on the median sale price of homes so far this year, according to an online real estate database.

The report, by PropertyShark, ranked Sagaponack second and Water Mill third nationwide in the sale of high-priced homes, each with a median price at just under $6 million. The two communities trail only Atherton, California, in the Silicon Valley, where the median home price was $7.9 million, according to the report.

Considering the high demand, some Long Island Realtors said, the median sale price for homes in Sagaponack and Water Mill would likely be even higher if not weighted down by relatively few properties on the market, but has jumped in the third quarter regardless.

"The market is powerful and money talks," said Michael Daly, a real estate agent with Douglas Elliman and founder of the affordable housing group East End YIMBY (Yes! In My Backyard).

Sagaponack has remained near the top of the list for nearly a decade but even so, the median home price has fallen $2.13 million from last year, according to the report.

Daly attributed that price drop to fewer home sales.

From May 2023 to May 2024, Sagaponack logged 17 homes sold, with a price range between $3 million and $24 million, Daly said. There were eight additional homes sold in the unincorporated Sagaponack North.

For the third quarter of this year, the median price of homes in Sagaponack was $8.7 million and the average price in Water Mill was $6.7 million, said Robert Nelson, executive managing director of Brown Harris Stevens, a real estate firm that operates in the Hamptons.

"The prices have continued to rise on properties and the market continues to be strong on a lack of inventory and continued demand," Nelson said.

Home prices in the Hamptons usually start at more than $1 million, Nelson said, with home prices in Sagaponack usually starting at $3 million — both often fueled by buyers from New York City looking to build large, oceanfront and open properties with expansive plots of preserved farmland.

"The low end is gone," Nelson said. "The whole stock is continuing to increase in caliber in size and price."

The ultrarich communities are also leading to less housing for the working-class residence on the South Fork, Daly said.

A lack of affordable housing has led to an exodus of some East End residents, including from the fishing, farming and arts communities, Daly said, adding that the region still needs housing for teachers, firefighters, health care workers and town and village employees.

"From a real estate perspective and as an investor, it’s great news we have a lot of luxury homes. I tell potential sellers their homes are worth the most they’ve ever been in history" Daly said. "As a community builder, it makes it challenging for local people who are the backbone of our communities to live here. Our challenge is protecting heritage industries and people who work in them and the service industries."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.