The Hamptons just set a new all-time record for median home prices at $2.34 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 — a staggering 34% jump from the year before — proving once again that when Wall Street hands out record bonuses, the beachfront real estate market responds by politely asking everyone else to stay home and admire from afar.
For everyday homebuyers, the news lands like a perfectly chilled martini thrown in the face: the lower and middle market segments are still shivering under high interest rates, while the ultra-luxury end parties like it’s 1999 with all-cash offers flying faster than seagulls at feeding time.
The median price keeps climbing not because every house suddenly got 34% prettier, but because more sales are now coming from the kind of properties that come with their own zip code and a guest house for the helicopter.
Brokers report that Wall Street bonuses for 2025 reached historic highs — the fattest since at least 2021 — sending hedge-fund managers, private-equity titans, and venture capitalists straight to the East End with suitcases full of liquidity.
The average sale price? A breezy $3.76 million. Meanwhile, a record 82 homes changed hands for more than $5 million each. That’s not a neighborhood; that’s a very exclusive club with an ocean view and a cover charge most people can’t even pronounce.
Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel summed it up with the calm understatement of someone who watches money move in seven figures daily: the surge reflects a “tremendous upswing in wealth.” Translation: when stocks post three straight years of double-digit gains, the spillover doesn’t go into savings accounts — it goes into oceanfront square footage.
Lower- and mid-tier homes continue to gather dust, but the high end? It’s basically printing money for sellers. The shift in sales mix toward bigger, pricier properties is doing most of the heavy lifting for that headline-grabbing median increase.
Don’t expect relief soon. Inventory — especially the good stuff with actual waves in the backyard — remains painfully low. Brokers are already crowing that the 2026 summer rental season is off to a roaring start, despite the current deep freeze and snow drifts that make the Hamptons look temporarily like a ski resort with bad zoning.
One agent casually mentioned renting a waterfront property from July through Labor Day for close to $1 million. That’s not a typo; that’s a summer sublet that costs more than many people’s lifetime vacation budget.
Even better: former pandemic escapees who fled to Florida are now circling back, buying Hamptons pads as air-conditioned relief from their own sunny retirement experiment. California buyers are joining the fun too. Everyone wants in before the good houses disappear.
One broker, showing a $10 million listing in the middle of a blizzard week, shrugged that people simply want to be where their friends, colleagues, and family will be in July. Apparently nothing says “networking” like a shared beach cabana and matching sunburns.
Those waiting for the traditional May fire-sale discounts might want to adjust expectations — or start saving their bonus checks a little earlier next year.
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