Yahoo Sports Why Young People Don’t Want to Summer in the Hamptons Anymore
Having a home in the Hamptons is no longer the pinnacle of aspiration for young New Yorkers.
More and more 20- and 30-year-olds are forgoing the luxe enclave, The New York Times reported on Friday. To them, it’s too expensive, too rule-following, and too conspicuously wealthy. Instead, they’re now favoring the city’s beaches or areas like Fire Island.
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“I think of the Hamptons as a vacation spot for a certain subset of affluent New Yorkers who probably use ‘summer’ as a verb rather than a noun,” the 26-year-old Jade Song, an author and art director, told the Times. Rather than heading out east, she’ll be visiting Brighton Beach this season.
The Hamptons as many of us envision it now really became a thing in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Diddy threw his first White Party at his East Hampton home in 1998, and more and more celebs became associated with the area around then. Now, though—especially since the pandemic began—the Hamptons have lost a bit of their cool factor, and even personalities like Martha Stewart have moved out of the area.
Part of the reason for the younger generation’s break with the Hamptons is simply due to them not being able to afford it there. According to Douglas Elliman, the average sales price for a Hamptons property hit a record $3.1 million in the first quarter of this year, and rentals can run $1,000 a night or $100,000 a month.
“Housing is probably the number one driver of why the 20s and 30s are sort of retreating from the Hamptons,” the land-use consultant Britton Bistrian told The New York Times. Young professionals have “been priced out just as much as working class people have been priced out.”
Other factors include strict laws governing how many unrelated people can live together in one house, how many people can share a bedroom, and other arrangements. More New Yorkers and families also live in the area year-round now, with the population of East Hampton alone rising 30 percent from April 2020 to April 2021.
Of course, the Hamptons still hold a certain allure for these younger New Yorkers. They just may not act on those desires until they’re a good deal older.
“Kaia Gerber, Ina Garten, and Diplo walk into a bar—that is to say, the Hamptons holds a certain, je ne sais quoi? Where else would these mega names be in the same sentence?” said the 22-year-old Jacob Rutledge, a model and content creator. “When I’m 50 plus, find me in the Hamptons.”
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