Summer has arrived! It's now the month of June, time for BBQ's, swimming pools, vacations, and. . . real estate slow-downs? This is the month that the hot Spring market traditionally tends to cool down in Lawrence. Will 2022 continue this trend or will the hot market continue unabated? The answer is fairly complicated, actually! The short answer is yes, expect things to cool down right about now. But, because the market has been so hot lately, don't expect that it will cool down in some significant way. Think of it more as a plateau: Prices have increased substantially this year, but those increases should level-out for the remainder of the year.
Let's look at some stats through the month of June within the city limits of Lawrence:
- Homes sales have declined 7.5% through the end of May compared to 2021
- Average Home Sales Price in 2022 is $327,000, which is an increase of 11% year-over-year
- Median Home Sales Price in 2022 is $300,000, which is an increase of 15% year-over-year
- Days-on-Market is averaging at 3 Days
- List-to-Sale Price Ratio is 101.5%
- Total Listings are down 12.5% in 2022 vs 2021
As rates have increased, buyer power has decreased a little. However, so far this increase has not been enough to significantly cool the market. Buyers have largely accepted this reality and are still making their offers as competitive as they possibly can. Remember, the current market climate is largely being driven by historically low inventory, not the current lending climate. When making offers, buyers should remember to be as strong as possible in order to have the best chance of landing that home!
While I've heard whispers in the media that multiple offer situations over largely over, don't believe this for a second! Multiple offer situations are still common and will remain so for the rest of the year. But, where there might have been 6 offers on a property in April, a similar property listed in July will probably only yield 2-3 offers. If you're looking for a deal, don't expect to find one in Lawrence. The market will not bear it, as there will likely be another buyer competing on the same property who is willing to give a seller what they're asking for, or more.
Stay tuned to R+K Real Estate for great new content, updates, advice, opinions and more in 2022. We plan to continue our advance of transparency, consumer advocacy, and empowering our clients with alternate business models designed to provide high levels or real estate service with drastically reduced commissions!
-Ryan Desch, Broker/Owner R+K Real Estate Solutions
