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Inside the Ellies: Who Really Rules the Hamptons & North Fork Real Estate at Douglas Elliman
A behind-the-scenes look at the agents, teams, and headline-making deals shaping the East End market.
Each year, Douglas Elliman’s Ellie Awards try to put numbers to success in a market that rarely fits neatly into metrics. In the Hamptons, where one off-market deal can overshadow months of visible sales, success depends as much on access as it does on figures.
Yet the rankings still tell their own story.
The Names You Keep Seeing
Erica Grossman, based in Southampton, claimed the top spot in both sales volume and commission earned. Her steady presence at the high end of the market continues to mark her as a consistent leader. Not far behind, Martha Gundersen and Paul Brennan, who often team up on some of the area’s biggest deals, again stood out among the top performers.
Big Deals, Steady Hands
Leadership here takes different shapes. Kristy Naddell, who led in transaction count, takes a different approach: instead of chasing headline-making large deals, she focuses on a steady flow and broad coverage, especially across the North Fork, where prices keep rising but at a gentler pace.
Team Power Plays
Among teams, The Atlantic Team ranked highest in both sales volume and commission, while The Connelly Team led in the number of transactions. This subtle difference hints at a larger divide—between those dealing with top-tier prices and those working a wider range of properties.
The real clarity comes from looking at the deals behind these numbers.
Deals That Stop Conversations
In 2025, Douglas Elliman agents took part in some of the East End’s biggest sales: a $70 million oceanfront home on Further Lane in Amagansett ranked among the largest, followed by a $57 million sale on Mid Ocean Drive in Bridgehampton and a $31.5 million deal on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton. Even in a market used to big figures, these stood out.
North Fork’s Quiet Breakthroughs
On the North Fork, a new milestone was reached. Naddell handled the sale of a waterfront property in Cutchogue for $11.2 million—a price that would have seemed unlikely there not long ago and one that shows how far the market has expanded eastward.
But perhaps the Ellies reveal more than just results—they capture a sense of ongoing stability.
A Market That Rewards Familiar Faces
Despite pandemic-driven shifts, new agents arriving, and firms rearranging offices from Manhattan to Montauk, the upper tier of the Hamptons market remains largely unchanged. The familiar names continue to appear year after year, handling similar types of deals, often on opposite sides of the table.
In a market where relationships form the backbone, this steadiness isn’t unexpected. Access—to properties, buyers, and information—tends to accumulate rather than disperse.
So even as the market seems to shift on the surface, it holds a consistent core.
In this way, the Ellies do more than rank agents—they map out a market that keeps rewarding those already within its circle.