The inventory of unsold homes on the market in the Hamptons and the North Fork has skyrocketed to 2,289 this quarter, up 23.9% from 2008.

It appears as though this will have a very positive impact, as would-be sellers may very likely be inclined to rent their homes out for severely reduced prices. What do you think? Is life down and out these days? Or, is life a beach?

As New York Observer journalist Oliver Haydock writes in, "For Manhattan and Hamptons Housing, A Falling Tide Sinks All Boats":

In the Hamptons, the first-quarter average sales price dropped from $1,945,358 in 2008 to $1,313,735 in 2009; the $631,623 price chop represents an alarming 32.5 percent drop. The sleepier North Fork fared worse, with a 42.6 percent year-to-year drop in the average home price and a 13.6 decline in the median.

Our observations have been about the same, while there has been general anxiety about the national real estate market, Plum TV's Keanan Duffty finds grounds for optimism at a recent event at the Corcoran Real Estate Group's Madison Avenue headquarters in New York City.

Corcoran set up a rental expo to connect their brokers with the New York City feeder market. The result was an unqualified success, as the expo was filled with renters seeking out bargains.

Duffty points out that the rest of the country looks to the Hamptons for trends, and the uptick in interest in summer rentals on the East End bodes well for the upcoming season in the Hamptons, and possibly for other resort markets as well.