Zillow: Long Island areas where least expensive homes average $1M or more
Sag Harbor was among 28 Long Island communities named in the Zillow study. Credit: Gordon M. Grant
Twenty-eight Long Island communities are among areas where the least expensive homes cost $1 million or more on average, according to data released Thursday by Zillow.
Zillow researchers calculated the average price of the bottom third of homes on the market to find the cost of what they called a "typical starter home" in the area. Of 237 U.S. locations where the number hits or surpasses $1 million, 31 are in New York State and 28 are on Long Island as of June, according to Zillow.
While the term "starter home" is typically used to describe a modest house affordable for a first-time homebuyer, Zillow's own definition of the phrase "typical starter home" is specific to this data set.
Of the Long Island locations, 10 are in Nassau County and 18 in Suffolk. Long Island areas comprised over 10% of the list.
The villages of Ocean Beach and East Williston made the list for the first time this year. For Ocean Beach, Zillow reported a "typical starter home" price of $1,079,163. The same figure for East Williston was $1,047,565.
As a licensed broker for Fire Island Sales and Rentals, Abigail Mago has noticed sharp price increases in Ocean Beach and across Fire Island since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though Zillow's research references Ocean Beach specifically, Mago said she suspects the data set may include more than just the one village because the majority of Fire Island uses the same zip code.
Mago and her colleagues also track sales data independently, she said. For 2023, Mago has recorded an average sale price of $1,365,731 for Ocean Beach, but said there may be gaps in her data.
"The cheapest listing in Ocean Beach right now is $899,000, and then the cheapest after that is vacant land for $1.15 million," Mago said.
Mago said she feels Fire Island as a whole is becoming more widely recognized as an option for clientele interested in oceanfront property.
"I don't think people thought of it as a Hamptons alternative, because the houses were not luxurious enough," Mago said. "For a long time it was unusual to have a pool here, it was unusual to have central air conditioning, and now that's changed."
Now, she said, she finds the Fire Island market drawing some buyers who have been browsing the Hamptons market, too.
"We are attracting buyers who also look in the Hamptons, and if they don't find what they like in the Hamptons, it is an alternative that the same consumer might consider, whereas 10 years ago that wasn't really the case," Mago said.
Meanwhile, in East Williston, associate broker Michael Alpert said the Nassau village's area was more affordable than some of its neighbors.
"I find East Williston to be kind of a bargain, when you're in comparison with Old Westbury and surrounding areas that go to the Wheatley school district," said Alpert, of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty.
Alpert speculated area demand has been driven by a combination of factors.
"I think it's just the nature of the streetscape, the bigger lots that you get, and the taxes are, in my opinion, reasonable, considering," Alpert said.
Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.
