Despite an overall drop across the East End in single-family home prices, properties in Riverhead, Southold and Shelter Island towns sold for more in 2016.
At the same time, unit sales for last year increased in all five towns, including Southampton and East Hampton, with 3,356 homes sold. That number was slightly higher than in 2015 and 37 percent higher than unit sales in 2012, data from Suffolk Research Service shows.
“Last year was very busy, very lively,” said Diane Mollica, an agent with Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty in Mattituck. “[Buyers] started off looking for second homes, up to about $500,000. Then there was a surge in waterfront properties being sold late in the summer, so we finished up on the higher price with waterfronts.”
Five North Fork properties that sold last year netted prices above $3 million.
In Southold, total sales for last year reached $342 million, up more than $40 million from the previous year. The median price for a single-family home was $532,819 last year.
Total 2016 sales in Riverhead Town reached $224 million, up $58 million from 2015. Additionally, the median price of single-family homes there rose from $355,000 in 2015 to $374,000.
“Brisk sales activity in all levels of the market has resulted in low inventory as we ended 2016,” said Deborah Kusa, an agent with Douglas Elliman who was involved in 2016’s second-most expensive transaction. “Many buyers remain on the hunt. If a homeowner has been considering selling, it is a great time to offer a North Fork property for sale.”
This year’s two most expensive sales involved properties in Southold Town.
One of them, on Bridge Lane in Cutchogue, sold in May for $6.25 million. A home on West Road in Cutchogue sold for $3,599,000. Another, on Aldrich Lane Extension in Mattituck, went for $3.25 million in August.
Four acres of waterfront property comprised the latter, known as “Splendor on The Sound. That property echoed the early 20th-century mansions of the Gold Coast of Long Island while also offering modern amenities, Kusa said.
“The house was designed and built by Warren Cannon, one of the founders of McKinsey & Co., and his wife, Susan,” she said. “The home’s interior design provided instant warmth through the use of extensive, honey-toned oak millwork and many inviting spaces. A favorite feature of the home was the second-floor landing library, which offered the bibliophile views all the way to the Connecticut shoreline from the intimate reading nook.”
A home on Sound Avenue in Baiting Hollow sold for $3.1 million in September and, in December, although it’s not technically on the North Fork, a home on Main Road on Fishers Island sold for $3.075 million, rounding out the top sales.
Here are the top 10 residential real estate transactions of 2016, according to SRS:
10. $2.5 million: 805 Meadow Beach, Cutchogue
Izzo, P & S to Lomangino, C Trust
9. $2.638 million: 905 Willis Creek Drive, Mattituck
Scollard, G Trust to Driscoll, K & B
8. $2.65 million: 440 Windward Road, Orient
Groman, P & G to Eskandar, A & N
7. $2.7 million: 50 Park Avenue, Mattituck
Wickham, C to Archivist Capital 50
6. $2.85 million: 1400 Sound Drive, Greenport
Russo, D to PMI at Greenport
5. $3.075 million: 11550 East Main Road, Fishers Island
Dwyer, C & Eaves, N to Young, D & K
4. $3.1 million: 2125 Sound Avenue, Baiting Hollow
Gabriel, M & M to Hardman, D & R
3. $3.25 million: 4625 Aldrich Lane Ext., Mattituck
Cannon, S by Executor to Kakar R & Y
2. $3,599,000: 1165 West Road, Cutchogue*
Unknown
1. $6.25 million: 9206 & 9208 Bridge, Cutchogue
Magistro Family to 865 Walton Realty
*Data taken from Multiple Listing Service.