Metro

Hamptons are bea$t of East

Home sales skyrocketed in the eastern regions of the Hamptons closest to the beach, real-estate reports show.

The number of East End sales jumped 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the firm Brown Harris Stevens.

And in the same time frame, the sale of homes worth $2.5 million or more jumped a stunning 98 percent as home buyers rushed to buy before 2013 tax hikes went into effect, the firm’s report said.

The average home-sale price for the area was $2.1 million — 27 percent more than the fourth quarter of 2011, the firm said.

In Amagansett, sale prices increased 121 percent — from an average $23.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 to an average $51.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Corcoran Group found.

“We can see that people are going farther East. It’s a different landscape and a different lifestyle,” said Ernie Cervi, Corcoran’s Bridgehampton managing director.