The Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund revenues continued to soar as the third quarter of 2021 drew to a close, but do the latest figures show the COVID-19 real estate frenzy on the East End is over?
Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., the architect of the fund, released numbers this week that show the first three quarters of the year are 87.6% higher than in 2020. So far this year, $158.88 million has been collected, compared with $84.68 million in 2020.
Revenues for September 2021 came in at $14.14 million, Thiele says. During September of last year, $12.42 million was collected — not as big of an increase as we have seen in previous months but it was higher than the previous month. August 2021’s total of $13.45 million was the lowest monthly total since September of 2020.
“Revenues for the CPF in September 2021 are higher than a year ago. This marks the 14th straight month that revenues have exceeded $10 million. However, the last two months reflect a reduction in revenue compared to the monthly totals for the last 12 months,” Thiele explains. “It had been recently reported by many in the real estate industry that because of declining inventory and rising prices, new contract activity had slowed over the summer from pandemic highs. This is reflected in the revenue numbers of the last two months, but still represents a high level of real estate activity across the East End.”
Shelter Island Town continues to see the biggest increase for the first nine months of the year. By September, it took In $3.37 million, a 127.7% increase over the first nine months of September 2020 when $1.48 million was collected.
East Hampton Town also saw a sharp incline with 119.5%, as it has taken in $52.59 million so far this year, compared to $23.96 million by September of 2020.
The Town of Southampton continues to collect the most — $88.54 million by September, a 77% increase over the same time period last year when it collected $50.03 million.
Over on the North Fork, Southold Town received $9.42 million so far, a 58.6% jump compared to last year when it received $5.94 million by this time.
The Town of Riverhead’s revenues were $4.95 million so far this year, a 51.4% increase for the first nine months of September 2020 when it took in $3.27 million.
Since the CPF was created in 1999, a total of $1.759 billion has been generated. In the last 12 months alone, $213.62 million has landed in the five town’s coffers over the last 12 months.
