Hamptons’s legacy residential brokerages hang on to the top

New kids are on the block in the Hamptons, but the established heavyweights are still coming out on top. 

More brokerages have set up shop Out East since the pandemic-driven frenzy, hoping to carve out their own slice of the billion-dollar real estate pie. But listings dwindled with rising mortgage rates in the second half of 2022, leaving the sales spike firmly in the rear view. 

Competition in the luxury enclave is now more fierce than ever, and the brokerages finding a foothold are those mining their networks to drum up business. 

The top 10 brokerages by sales volume combined for more than $7.7 billion across 1,840 transactions in the period. The previous ranking, which counted all deals between April 2022 and April 2023, had sales volume from the top 10 firms totaling $10.4 billion. 

New to the rankings is the Modlin Group, headed by one of Manhattan’s leading brokers. Adam Modlin’s firm debuted in the Hamptons in December 2022 with top broker Christopher Covert and his team working in the market. The brokerage closed just over $100 million in sales volume across just nine deals, landing it the No. 10 spot in the rankings.

The smaller shops also have their advantages in a market slowdown, according to Preston Kaye, co-founder of Hedgerow Exclusive Properties: Having fewer agents allows boutique firms to be nimble and collaborative, giving them an edge over competing brokerages juggling more moving parts. 

“It’s always much easier for our firm to make adjustments and be creative, certainly much more so than big-box firms,” Kaye said. “We can zig and zag when the market shifts.”

Kaye also counts the firm’s book of off-market listings as a boon to his business. The private deals are not included in the rankings, but brokers claim they are making up a significant share of the market. 

Kaye’s brokerage, which finished eighth in the rankings with almost $262 million in closed deals, is sharing the most expensive listing currently on the market with the Modlin Group. The sprawling East Hampton estate, owned by Ann Tenenbaum, venture capitalist and widow of private equity titan Thomas H. Lee, hit the market in June with a $120 million asking price.