April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in the Hamptons, New York's beachside playground for the rich and famous, rose in the first quarter at the slowest pace in four years.

The median price of a single-family home jumped 8 percent to $690,000, according to Suffolk Research Service Inc., a real estate data company. In East Hampton, where Martha Stewart has a house, prices rose 14 percent to $970,000, the fastest in the area.

``There is still a lot of inventory and pent up demand,'' said Diane Saatchi, a broker for the Corcoran Group who has been selling Hamptons real estate for 19 years.

While Hamptons prices have increased steadily since 2003, the number of sales fell 13 percent to 709 for the quarter, showing even the most robust markets are tempering. Across the U.S., the residential market has been derailed by two years of rising interest rates, a glut of inventory and tightening credit among subprime lenders.

The National Association of Realtors reported today that sales of existing homes in the U.S. slid 8.4 percent in March to the lowest level in almost four years. A separate report on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed home-price declines in 20 major cities accelerated in February.

Affluent Area

Hamptons gains are being fueled by the area's affluence. The median household income in Suffolk County was 55 percent higher than the national figure in 2000. About 26 percent of the county's 470,000 households reported a median income of more than $100,000, according to the U.S. Census. Nationwide, 12 percent of households made that much.

Sales in the Long Island seaside communities are hampered by sellers who have been unwilling to drop their prices and buyers expecting a fire sale because of negative news about the national real estate market, Saatchi said.

``Everybody is looking for the silly rich, but the rich are not so silly,'' she said. ``There's not a sense of urgency.''

Shelter Island was the most expensive place to buy in the Hamptons with a median price of $999,000, 3 percent more than in 2006, Suffolk Research said. In Southampton, the median price rose 7 percent to $795,000.

The total value of sales for single-family homes gained 4 percent to $982 million, Suffolk Research President George Simpson said. The record was set in 2005, when sales topped $1 billion.

The latest data does not include deals that are in contract and have yet to close. Those include some sales for more than $30 million in Southampton, an $8.1 million sale and one for $7 million on David's Lane in East Hampton, Saatchi said. She declined to name the buyers or sellers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sharon L. Crenson in New York at screnson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 24, 2007 16:18 EDT