Residential real estate in Montauk, New York can command some surprising prices for a faraway community on the easternmost tip of Long Island. Well over a hundred miles to the city limits of New York and almost another ten to the Island of Manhattan, the hamlet of Montauk lies within the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County. Strategically located on the tip of the South Fork of Long Island, Montauk has been host to, variously, an Army post and Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force bases. Its main industry would seem to be tourism, but the community is actually home to the largest commercial and recreational fishing fleet in all of the Empire State. Indeed, its fishing grounds are quite famous for having produced more saltwater fishing records than anywhere else in the world.

It is still surprising, however, that housing prices can rival those in many of the best neighborhoods in New York City. As of the week ending in February 10, 2010, the average listing price was estimated to be just over one million seven hundred and fifty-six thousand dollars – and that’s down quite a bit from almost two million dollars less than a month ago on January 20, 2010! Interestingly, the median selling price posted for the three-month period between September 2009 and November 2009 was barely over six hundred and fifty-seven thousand dollars. However, that calculation was based on just three home sales – it’s a very small community of year-long residents, after all. But when combined with that precipitously downward market trend just noted, the forecast for residential realty in Montauk does not look too bright. Indeed, the average listing price mentioned previously represents a decrease of almost three percent over the prior week – a drop of almost fifty-two thousand dollars!

There are around four thousand year-round residents in Montauk, forming over one and a half thousand households, a quarter of which had children under the age of eighteen. The median household income for a family in Montauk is over fifty thousand dollars a year; males earn just over forty thousand while females tend to receive only a little over twenty-eight thousand. The overall per capita income is under twenty-five thousand dollars each year. It would seem, then, that most Montauk homes on the market are fairly luxurious estates that are probably used by people who are not year-long residents, used as vacation homes or weekend retreats.

Of course, this is a special kind of investment, not your average rental situation involving long-term tenants. It is important to understand the nature of the property market in Montauk, that they revolve around tourism and that the tourists are overwhelmingly seasonal. Any hopes of cashing in, realty-wise, needs to account for these solemn facts. It may be more advantageous to purchase land that can be developed into commercial lots, for example. With the right location, one can easily charge any number of businesses that cater to tourists a good amount of money!

Author Bio: Barbra I. Miller writes frequently on real estate topics for various online publications. Please visit LifeCycleOfRealEstate.com for more great articles from industry insiders such as Isaac Toussie and others!

Category: Real Estate
Keywords: real estate, new york, montauk, long island, nyc, new york city, property, property markets, realty