An oceanfront compound in the Hamptons just sold for $45 million, marking the ritzy Long Island enclave’s priciest deal this year

• An unidentified buyer just bought an oceanside East Hampton property for $45 million.
• The sale comes during a time when the Hamptons’ housing market is in a slump.
• But its rental market is on the rise, as wealthy city dwellers flee to the region to escape coronavirus hotspots like New York City.
• The home, originally listed for $60 million last year, was previously owned by the late rail tycoon James H. Evans.
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An unidentified buyer just splashed out $45 million for a 6.7-acre oceanfront East Hampton property. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Katherine Clarke, this marks the Hamptons’ biggest sale closed so far this year. 

The deal comes at a time when the Hamptons’ housing market is in a slump, but its rental market is on the rise, as people fled big cities to suburbia amid the coronavirus pandemic. But according to the Journal, the home was in contract before the pandemic began overtaking the news cycle.

The property originally hit the market last summer with an asking price of $60 million. It was built by James H. Evans, former chairman of the railway company Union Pacific, who bought the site in 1986, Clarke reports.

Here’s a look inside the sprawling estate.