Luxury property sales in the Hamptons, New York’s weekend haven for the wealthy, are on the upswing thanks to a buoyant stock market, with four closings over the $20 million mark in the three months ended in June compared with none last year, real estate data show.

Residential sales in the Long Island villages of East Hampton, Southampton and Bridgehampton came roaring back in the second quarter from a lackluster period a year ago, a report by brokerage Town and Country Real Estate said Monday.

Closings in the $10 million to $19.9 million range jumped to 10 from four and all but one of the 14 sales at the high end during the period occurred in the three towns, the report said.

The sales point to a brighter outlook for the economy and Wall Street, whose performance is tied to real estate sentiment in the Hamptons, said Judi Desiderio, chief executive officer of Town & Country in East Hampton.

“When the market does well we’re going to do well,” said Desiderio, a broker in the Hamptons for 36 years.

The good times spur sales as the wealthy take money out of the stock market to invest in hard assets, she said.

“What are they going to do? They’re going to buy art, they’re going to buy jewels, they’re going to buy luxury real estate, whether it’s here or South Beach or wherever it is,” Desiderio said. 

The highest-priced sale was a four-bedroom, 2.5 bath home for $31 million in May described as modest by publication 27East.com. The 2.6-acre property, with 199 feet of beachfront, was bought in 1984 for $175,000, the publication said.

The median home price rose 10.1 percent to $1.1 million, while the total value of all sales jumped 21.7 percent, Town & Country said, using data from The Real Estate Report of West Islip, New York.

Source: CNBC