Home sales on the East End of Long Island took a big dive in the fourth quarter of last year, as mortgage rates rose and inventory remained near historic lows. 

There were 251 closed home sales in the Hamptons over the last three months of 2022, down 52.6 percent from the 530 home sales recorded in Q4 2021 and a drop of 24.6 percent from the third quarter of last year, according to a report from Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants and Douglas Elliman Real Estate. 

The median price of closed home sales in the Hamptons in the fourth quarter was $1.5 million, an 11.1 percent increase from Q4 2021. 

Listing inventory fell by 15 percent, dropping from 1,049 in the third quarter to 892 in the fourth quarter, though it was 12.3 percent higher than the 794 homes listed for sale in Q4 2021. 

On the North Fork, there were 103 closed home sales in the fourth quarter, down 36 percent year over year from the 161 sales in the last three months of 2021. 

The median price of closed home sales on the North Fork in the fourth quarter was $910,000, a rise of 13.8 percent from the $800,000 median price recorded in Q4 2021. 

There were 142 homes listed for sale on the North Fork at the end of the fourth quarter, which is 11.8 percent fewer than the 161 listings at the end of the previous quarter, but up 75.3 percent from the 81 homes listed for sale at the end of Q4 2021. 

The number of days that an East End home was on the market before selling was up. The average number of days on the market for a listing in the Hamptons was 92 days in the fourth quarter, an increase of 31.4 percent from the 70 days recorded in the previous quarter. 

The average number of days on the market for a home on the North Fork in the fourth quarter was 83 days, up 62.7 percent from the 51 days recorded in the previous quarter.