East Hampton, NY short-term rental market report (2026)
Suffolk County, New York. Rules, revenue, home values, demand, climate, reach and risk, each figure with its source.
- RulesStrict (4/5)
- 4-BR typical value$853K
- FEMA riskRelatively High
- Demand drivers within 50 mi6
- People within 300 mi58.6 million
- ClimateSummer-peak
Everything STR HUB holds on East Hampton, NY in one place, in the order an investor needs it: whether you can operate, what the numbers are, why and when people come, who can reach it, and what could go wrong.
Every figure comes from a named dataset listed under Sources and method, dated September 21, 2026. Where we do not hold a figure, that part of the report is left out rather than estimated. The Opportunity Score here is partial: it was calculated without revenue data, with the cash-flow component assumed to be below average, so it can understate the market.
Can you operate in East Hampton?
| Rule | What we hold on file |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Town of East Hampton (Rental Registry, Town Code Chapter 199); the incorporated Village of East Hampton has its own separate Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit Registry (Chapter 232) |
| Permit or licence | Rental Registry (Town Code Chapter 199) — registration number required, must appear in all rental advertising, covers all residential rentals including short-term/seasonal. |
| Permit fee | $100 filing fee; registration valid for 2 years from issuance. |
| Cap on rentals | No blanket numeric cap on total registrations townwide, but each property is capped at a maximum of 2 rentals of under 2 weeks within any rolling 6-month period; 'share houses' (splitting occupancy rights among multiple parties/time periods) are prohibited entirely. |
| Owner occupancy | Not required for registration, but the 2-per-6-months short-term cap constrains how much true short-stay/Airbnb-style rental a non-resident owner can legally conduct. |
| Minimum stay | No fixed legal minimum-stay length confirmed, but the 2-per-6-months frequency cap functions as a de facto restriction on frequent short-term turnover. |
| Lodging and sales taxes | Statewide 4% NYS sales tax on STR occupancy (platform-collected) plus Suffolk County hotel/motel occupancy tax (rate not independently confirmed). |
| Penalties | Town press materials cite potential fines exceeding $200,000 with possible incarceration in enforcement cases; these figures likely reflect aggregated/repeat-violation exposure rather than a typical first offense — confirm actual per-violation fine schedule before relying on this. |
Rules for East Hampton last verified September 20, 2026. Rules change, and a city rating does not cover HOA or deed restrictions. Confirm current requirements with the jurisdiction before you buy or list.
Which way the rules are moving
Tightening. The rules we hold report a recent or pending change.
The Town has been intensifying enforcement, including reported use of AI tools to flag unregistered listings, with local reporting finding roughly half of active listings unlicensed — signals a rising compliance-risk environment for buyers assuming they can operate off-registry.
Classified from the regulation text we publish; a direction is only kept when the sentence it rests on appears word for word in that text.
The numbers
We have not verified revenue figures for this market yet.
Home values in Suffolk County
Zillow Home Value Index: county-wide typical values for Suffolk County, not list prices. A specific property can sit well above or below them.
What it costs to own
Screening figures, not a bill or a quote. The tax rate is a county-wide median for owner-occupied homes (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2018-2022); second homes and rentals are often taxed more heavily, and a purchase usually resets the assessed value. Expected annual loss is from the FEMA National Risk Index.
Housing market momentum
County-level, for-sale housing market: it says nothing directly about STR bookings. A relative ranking among tracked markets, not a forecast. Sources: Realtor.com Economic Research, U.S. Census Bureau, Zillow Home Value Index.
Why people come
6 demand drivers sit within 50 miles of East Hampton, 1 of them new, planned or one-off (flagged emerging). Ordered by published attendance. Attendance appears only where a source publishes it.
Attractions
- Block Island
- When
- Late June to Labor Day.
- STR angle
- A small ferry-access island with very limited hotel stock, so summer houses carry most visitor nights. The season is short and supply is tightly constrained by conservation land.
- Source
- Wikipedia: Block Island
- Foxwoods Resort Casino
- When
- Year-round; weekends and concert nights.
- STR angle
- One of the largest casino resorts in North America, with arenas and a Great Wolf Lodge on the same reservation. Mohegan Sun, a second tribal casino resort with a 10,000-seat arena, is about ten miles away, so the two together make south-eastern Connecticut a year-round weekend market. On-site hotels absorb most demand; nearby houses pick up event overflow and larger groups.
- Great Wolf Lodge - Mashantucket emerging: newly opened
- When
- Year-round
- STR angle
- Indoor waterpark resort pulls New England/NYC-metro family weekend traffic; complements rather than competes with the STR market since Great Wolf itself is the lodging.
- The Hamptons & Montauk
- When
- Memorial Day to Labor Day; July and August peak.
- STR angle
- A high-priced summer-house market where whole-season and monthly rentals are the tradition. Several East End towns require rental permits and set minimum stays (two weeks in places), so check the town code before underwriting nightly income.
- Source
- Wikipedia: The Hamptons
Outdoor activities
- Narragansett
- When
- Summer resort season; surf peaks with late-summer and fall southerly swells.
- STR angle
- Summer weekly rentals are the norm, and University of Rhode Island students fill houses September to May, giving owners an unusual off-season option. Homes near Town Beach or Point Judith fit best.
Landmarks
- Mystic Seaport Museum
- When
- Year-round; summer is the peak.
- Attendance
- 250,000 (Wikipedia infobox: 250,000 visitors (2023); the article text says about 250,000 visitors each year as of 2016.)
- STR angle
- A family maritime-history stop that pairs with the aquarium, the shoreline and the nearby casinos, giving Mystic a long summer season and decent shoulder weekends. Two- to three-bedroom houses within walking distance of the drawbridge are what visiting families look for.
When they come
Summer-peak climate: May to September is comfortable and December to February highs average under 45°F. 6 of 12 months have an average high between 60°F and 88°F, and 1 month averages six inches or more of snow. Warmest month: July (average high 80°F). Coldest: January (average low 31°F).
- Jan41°31°Cold
- Feb42°31°ColdSnow
- Mar47°36°Cool
- Apr54°43°Cool
- May62°51°Comfortable
- Jun72°61°Comfortable
- Jul80°70°Comfortable
- Aug79°70°Comfortable
- Sep73°64°Comfortable
- Oct64°55°Comfortable
- Nov54°44°Cool
- Dec46°37°Cool
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high (°F) | 41 | 42 | 47 | 54 | 62 | 72 | 80 | 79 | 73 | 64 | 54 | 46 |
| Average low (°F) | 31 | 31 | 36 | 43 | 51 | 61 | 70 | 70 | 64 | 55 | 44 | 37 |
| Precipitation (in) | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 6.2 | 3.5 | 5.6 |
| Snowfall (in) | 4.2 | 6.4 | 2.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 3.0 |
| Sunshine (hours a day) | 6.0 | 6.4 | 8.6 | 8.7 | 10.8 | 11.6 | 11.7 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 5.5 |
This is climate and events, not booking data. Monthly normals are 2019-2023 averages from the Open-Meteo Historical Weather API (ERA5 reanalysis) at the market pin. We do not hold monthly occupancy or rate data for this market.
Who can reach it
Largest counties within 150 miles
| County | Population |
|---|---|
| Kings County, NY | 2,679,620 |
| Queens County, NY | 2,360,826 |
| New York County, NY | 1,645,867 |
County populations (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2018-2022) summed for every county whose centre lies within each straight-line radius. Straight lines are shorter than roads, so read these as generous upper bounds, not drive-time counts.
What could go wrong
| Hazard | FEMA rating | Score (0-100) |
|---|---|---|
| Winter weather | Very High | 98.8 |
| Coastal flooding | Very High | 98.6 |
| River flooding | Relatively High | 98.3 |
| Hurricane | Relatively High | 96.8 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 95.9 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 74.7 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 73.4 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 36.9 |
This is a county-level index, not an insurance quote or a flood-zone determination. A coastal or wildfire-fringe rental can carry far more exposure than its county average suggests. Get property-level flood, wind and wildfire quotes before you buy.
Market context
Housing and jobs in Suffolk County
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2018-2022. Vacation-home share is housing units held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use. All three describe the whole county, not one town or neighbourhood.
What is within 15 km of the East Hampton pin
Counts of features mapped in OpenStreetMap within 15 km of the market pin. A fixed radius favours dense metros, and map coverage varies by area.
Similar markets
The 4 tracked markets whose numbers sit closest to East Hampton's. Each links to its own report.
Closest by normalised distance across the figures both markets hold (typical 4BR value, revenue, occupancy, regulation rating, vacation-home share, tourism job share, 4+ bedroom share, amenity score, population within 300 miles, comfortable months and FEMA risk score). At most 2 of the 4 come from New York, so the list is not just the neighbours. Similar numbers do not mean similar rules: check each market's regulation section.
See East Hampton on the map
Open East Hampton on the National STR Map to see it against its neighbours, switch overlays and run the deal calculator on your own assumptions.
East Hampton STR questions, answered from the data
Is Airbnb legal in East Hampton?
STR HUB rates East Hampton's short-term rental rules 4/5 (Strict) on a scale from 1 (relaxed) to 5 (very strict). That rating was derived from the regulation text we hold and has not yet been reviewed by a person. Permit rule on file: Rental Registry (Town Code Chapter 199) — registration number required, must appear in all rental advertising, covers all residential rentals including short-term/seasonal. Cap on file: No blanket numeric cap on total registrations townwide, but each property is capped at a maximum of 2 rentals of under 2 weeks within any rolling 6-month period; 'share houses'… Rules change, so confirm current requirements with the local jurisdiction before you buy or list.
How much does a 4-bedroom home cost in East Hampton?
The typical 4-bedroom home in Suffolk County is valued at $853,142 (Zillow Home Value Index), and the typical home of any size at $738,423, with all-home values up 3.7% over the past year. These are county-wide typical values, not list prices.
What brings visitors to East Hampton?
6 demand drivers sit within 50 miles of East Hampton, including Mystic Seaport Museum (250,000 published attendance), Block Island and Foxwoods Resort Casino. Attendance is shown only where a source publishes it, and each driver's source is linked in the report.
What natural hazards affect East Hampton?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Suffolk County "Relatively High" overall, with a score of 97.3 out of 100 (a national percentile). The highest-scoring hazards we track there are winter weather and coastal flooding. It is a county-wide index, not an insurance quote or a flood-zone determination.
When is the weather best in East Hampton?
6 of 12 months have an average high between 60°F and 88°F (May, June, July, August, September and October). Summer-peak climate: May to September is comfortable and December to February highs average under 45°F. These are 2019-2023 climate normals, not booking data.
Sources and method
- Regulation summary and strictness rating: STR Agent HUB regulation research (official source: ehamptonny.gov).
- Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), county level. Data provided by Zillow Group.
- Housing, employment and population figures: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, 2018-2022.
- Natural hazard risk: FEMA National Risk Index, county level.
- Amenity counts: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Climate normals: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API (CC BY 4.0), 2019-2023 averages.
- Demand drivers: each entry links its own published source in the list above.
Figures come from the STR HUB national dataset dated September 21, 2026 and this page is regenerated whenever that dataset is rebuilt. County-level figures describe Suffolk County as a whole, not one street or neighbourhood. The Opportunity Score (0-100) is a screening heuristic that weighs revenue (35%), regulatory climate (25%), tourism employment (15%), nearby amenities (15%) and large-home supply (10%) relative to the other tracked markets.
Confirm before you act. Short-term rental rules change. Confirm current requirements with the jurisdiction, and work with a licensed local agent who knows which properties can legally operate. This report is screening data, not investment, legal or tax advice.
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