The Hamptons vs. Palm Beach

Comparing The Hamptons to precious 'Palmy'

Date: 23rd Feb 2016

The Big Apple is everyone’s favourite city. People even wear ‘I heart NY’ t-shirts as a badge of cosmopolitan worship. Nearby The Hamptons is a fabulous playground for the rich. Located just two hours and 26 minutes’ drive away from New York City, the super wealthy use helicopters and jets to move between the east end of Long Island (for play) and Manhattan (for work).

39 Morrella Road, Whale Beach is a home ahead of its time. A modernist beachside pad capturing headland-to-headland views with a glass house feel. This is five bedroom home with 4 bathrooms and 2 car spaces.

Likewise Palm Beach is a fashionable northern beachside suburb of Sydney, just 41 kilometres from the city centre. It is sometimes colloquially referred to as ‘Palmy’ and is famously the scene of the exterior filming for TV soapie Home & Away. In Palmy, you have stretches of yellow sand, fresh air, pretty big homes and a slice of Australian bush.

In Palm Beach today you can get a four bedroom house with a pool on Barrenjoey Road, for just under $AUD 1.5 mil. That will get you a laid-back coastal vibe, with all the modern conveniences thrown in.

In East Hampton, a similar sized property with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and pool decorated in the classic Hamptons style interior will cost around $AUD 1.8 mil.

Two Cedar Trail is a real home on one of the best streets in East Hampton. East Hampton – often referred to as ‘America’s Most Beautiful Village’ – is home to particularly high-end restaurants, bars and designer boutiques. It’s streets feature up-scale shipping intended for high income earners.

Smaller homes in The Hamptons, with less bedrooms and less bathrooms (and less white painted wood) sell for $US 725,000 or between $AUD 1.1 mil and $AUD 1.2 mil.

If you want a more modest address, say a 20 year old home in low-crime Montauk, near good primary schools, you can buy something for your family with 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, a fireplace and a vaulted ceilings on Fleming Court for the equivalent $AUD 1.2 mil. Your summer lifestyle will be similar to Palm Beach, but The Hamptons is twice as long a commute to the city, even taking account for the Spit Bridge.

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