Corcoran to Purchase Hamptons Broker Dayton-Halstead

     Corcoran Group, the second-largest residential broker in New York City, agreed to buy Dayton-Halstead LLC, a company that's been selling homes for 98 years in the Hamptons, a summer resort on New York's Long Island.
     Corcoran, a subsidiary of NRT Inc. of Parsippany, New
Jersey, didn't say how much it paid for East Hampton, New York-
based Dayton-Halstead. Five months ago, NRT acquired Cook Pony
Farm Real Estate Inc., also of East Hampton. Corcoran is the
largest Hamptons brokerage, with 13 offices and 200 agents,
Corcoran President and Chief Executive Pamela Liebman said.
     The market for vacation homes is expected by real estate
economists to grow at a faster pace than the overall U.S.
property market as Baby Boomers, the 29 percent of the population
born between 1946 and 1964, enter their peak earning years. The
Hamptons, within driving distance from Manhattan, attracts a mix
of Wall Street executives and Hollywood celebrities.
     ``We are going to see more people than ever buying second
homes,'' Liebman said in a telephone interview. ``People have
been putting their money into real estate as an alternative to
the stock market, and history has proven it to be a good
investment.''
     Diane Saatchi, president of Dayton-Halstead, will become a
Corcoran vice president, Liebman said.
     Dayton-Halstead's 44 agents in East Hampton, Bridgehampton
and Sag Harbor had $133 million in sales volume last year.
Corcoran has more than 1,100 sales associates in 23 offices who
generated sales of about $5.3 billion.
     NRT is owned by Cendant Corp., whose shares rose 54 cents to
$23.30 at the close of New York trading. The stock has risen 4.6
percent this year, while the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500
Index is little changed.