Why Hamptons-style homes are in hot demand in Sydney's real estate market

When Monica Ford visited New York and spent a weekend in the Hamptons, a string of seaside communities on Long Island, she fell in love with the people and their homes.

“It’s such a unique, well-travelled part of America,” says Ford, a stylist and founder of Fairlight homewares store Hamptons House. “There was a big demographic … Presidents go there, Hemingway, amazing artists, jazz people would go up for the summer holidays.”

With houses that were bohemian and others that were grand, like the big estates owned by Hollywood celebrities, Ford was inspired by the way each home felt so inviting, filled with meaningful accessories from trips abroad, visits to the beach and family knickknacks.

Back in Sydney, she channelled her appreciation of the style into Hamptons House, opening the store in 2013 just as Australians began embracing key elements of Hamptons’ architecture and interior design.

“When interior designer Melinda Hartwright listed her house as an American-style home in 2013 she started the trend,” says Ford. “When she sold that house, the market went crazy. There were lots of people … saying ‘I want a house like that’.”

Hartwright’s home in North Balgowlah fetched $2,405,000 in 2013 and sold three years later with similar Hamptons styling and colour palette in 2016 for $3.4 million.

Tania Paris, of Belle Property Frenchs Forest, was the selling agent in 2013 and remembers the campaign well. “The house caused quite a stir … We had something like 125 groups through and it sold prior to auction to a local family, well in excess of the owner’s expectations.”

She has now entrusted with the sale of a similar property in Forestville, billed as an architecturally designed Hamptons home. Are they an easy style of house to sell?

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“Yes they are,” she says. “A lot of people aspire to live in a home like that … The style appeals to everyone and doesn’t date.”

Paris says the style, more prevalent in North Balgowlah and Freshwater, is a good fit for suburbs like Forestville, where properties often boast level land and wider frontages.

Interior designer Anne Webster is working with two clients on Hamptons-inspired projects, one based in St Ives and the other in Killarney Heights. She puts the increasing popularity of the style down to its ability to provide a light-filled, neutral base that effortlessly absorbs homeowners’ eclectic pieces.

“It’s a little bit of a beachy style, you’ve usually got navy in the mix, lots of pictures, Ming vases, blue and white jars, a lot of chrome, fisherman pendants. It’s all about the accessories and making it personal.”

Woods and Warner director and interior designer Jacinta Woods, designer of our cover property, says Hamptons-inspired homes have a lived-in look that appeals to Sydneysiders. “They’re homes that have got a really relaxed … and well- travelled look,” she says.

The Hamptons look is not for minimalists. “Use every bit of space you’ve got and layer it,” says Woods. “You can pair side-of-the-road finds with antique vases, recycled with new. It’s a lived-in look.”

Woods says Sydney’s Hamptons homes tend to be casual yet elegant.

“Sydneysiders do like to entertain at home and have big groups of people over, so we’re getting back to making welcoming spaces.”

Ford agrees. “They’re really easy, calm houses to walk into,” she says. “They’re comfortable and inviting, with real warmth.

Hamptons haven lists in Forestville 

Belle is selling the Hamptons-inspired property at 4 Angel Place, Forestville NSW. Photo: Supplied

The Woods and Warner-designed home at 4 Angel Place is “Hamptons with an Australian mix”, says director Jacinta Woods.

The property features a white weatherboard exterior, Shaker-style custom-built cabinetry, a monochromatic colour scheme with pops of blue, whitewashed cathedral ceilings, highlight windows and American oak floors.

The elegant bathrooms have marble vanities and there’s a slipper clawfoot bath in the en suite. There is polished chrome detailing in the light fittings and tapware and classic patterns featured in both wallpapers and tiles.

The island kitchen has a walk-in pantry and Miele appliances and opens onto the back deck through bi-fold windows.

The generous back garden faces north-east and there’s plenty of room for a pool should the new owners want one.

Belle’s Tania Paris is marketing the property with a price guide of $2.3 million ahead of its March 24 auction.

“The presentation of this home is magnificent,” says Paris.

“Everyone who walks in comments on how beautiful it is. They say if they were going to build, this is the type of home they would build.”