Hamptons Real Estate Scene: $2.5 Million Rental, A-List Listings and More

Record-setting sales, superlative summer rentals, zip code championship bouts, celebrity listings…step inside the Hamptons real estate scene.

Sagaponack Back on Top
It was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? According to a report from real estate data site Property Shark, Sagaponack is now America’s most expensive zip code. Judging by its median sale price of $8,500,000, 11962 took a commanding lead over Atherton, California ($5,900,000), which Forbes had placed at the top of the tony heap, one spot ahead of Sagaponack, in November of last year.

Superlative Summer Rentals
What will $2.5 million get you this summer? In Southampton Village, it’s a world-class, 8-acre oceanfront in the vaunted estate area with 500 feet of frontage, pool, tennis and bayside dock, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Listed by Corcoran Group’s Tim Davis.

In East Hampton, $1.15 million buys July at a European-style home south of the highway. Within walking distance to the ocean and the village, the 6,000-square-foot house features 5 bedrooms and 6.5 baths, with pool, media room, library and 12-foot ceilings throughout on 2 acres. Listed by Main Street Properties.

If you’re looking for a little more chic seclusion, on Shelter Island the summer rental market tops out at $175,000 for the month of July in an 8,000-square-foot waterfront estate with 6 bedrooms, 9 baths in Shorewood. The breezy home has a pool, hot tub, dock and wraparound porches. Listed by Seth Madore of Corcoran Group.

Celebrity Real Estate
East End star Joy Behar recently put her East Hampton home on the market. The comedian bought the 4,000-square-foot abode back in 2012 for $2.875 million, and now has listed it with Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty for almost $4 million. The two-story house includes 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms with pool and spacious yard on just shy of an acre.

Want to live like Diddy? The hip-hop artist, producer and entrepreneur recently listed his East Hampton home on the summer rental market. For $200,000 the Northwest Woods house can be yours Memorial Day–Labor Day. The 4,500-square-foot waterfront modern has fabulous views of Gardiners Bay and all the requisite amenities to host your own white parties every night of the week. Listed by Kathy Konzet of Sotheby’s.

Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber‘s Amagansett house remains on the market with Rylan Jacka of Sotheby’s. The 6,061-square-foot, 5-bedroom, 7.5-bath home, in the Amagansett Lanes, is within walking distance to both town and the beach. The A-List couple is asking $5.85 million for it.

Speaking of A-Lister listings, Oscar-winner Julianne Moore’s Montauk home is also still on the market with Theresa Eurell of Town & Country Real Estate for just shy of $3.5 million. The modest, 1,000-square-foot waterfront cottage faces Fort Pond on .69 acres with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath, a lovely screened-in porch, and a pool with cabana and outdoor shower.

Southampton Town recently granted Matt Lauer approval to plant shrubs at Bright Side Farm, his horse farm in Water Mill. The Today host had applied for permission to plant trees and shrubs in order to keep out noise from neighboring properties, but those neighbors argued that trees would block their view of all that open space.

The legendary Anna Pump’s former home has been rented for the summer. The cooking luminary, who died in a tragic accident last October, left behind a beautifully preserved and secluded 18th century home outside Sag Harbor. The one-acre property with pool may be available for next year.

A True Monster in Montauk
Hamptons real estate power brokers and mother-son duo Susan Breitenbach and Matthew Breitenbach—of Corcoran and Douglas Elliman, respectively—have a gorgeous, 35-acre listing that aims to surpass the record for most expensive sale ever in set by Douglas Elliman’s Paul Brennan. Now on the market for $55 million, the oceanfront offering at 42 Old Montauk Highway actually abuts Eothen, Andy Warhol’s former estate, which Brennan sold for J Crew CEO Mickey Drexler to writer and art collector Adam Lindemann for $50 million in December of last year. The potential record breaker includes a 7,000-square-foot modern house with zen design, 5 bedrooms and 5 baths, fresh water pond, private ocean access and beach, and its very own surf break.