October has arrived and with it the final quarter of the year for the Lawrence real estate market. While the numbers for September don't look too bad, there is rough water ahead. In fact, we're already in rough water right now. Interest rates are topping out around 8% and that is enough to ice the real estate market. And unfortunately, I think that's what the numbers will start to show for next month's update.
For September, sales were already down substantially from August. Prices are down month-over-month also. But if you look at the year-over-year numbers, it looks about on par with last year. Year-to-date the Lawrence market is still down 10% is home sales, but holding at both average and median sales price. I do not expect that trend is going to hold going into the final quarter of 2026.
Active listings have jumped almost 7% since my last update. Under contract listings have dropped 5%. My sense of what I'm seeing on the ground and in talking with other local top-producing agents is that showing activity has nearly ground to a halt in the last couple weeks. National headlines confirm this is a nation-wide situation as well as a local reality. To read more on this topic, here is a helpful article published on Homes.com.
All of the stats that follow are sourced from the Lawrence MLS. What follows is a look at some market numbers specifically within the city limits of Lawrence:
Month-over-Month
- September home sales decreased 14.1% from the previous month with 79 sold homes
- Average Price decreased 8.6% in September vs. the previous month, to 349.1K
- Median Price decreased 10.2% to $305,000
- Average DOM increased 61.9% to 34 days-on-market
- 111 homes were listed in September, a 16.8% increase from 95 listed in August
- List-Price-to-Sales-Price Ratio for September was 98.0%
- Average Per-Square-Foot in September was 191/sq.ft.
Year-over-Year
- Home sales were up 31.7% in September'26 vs '25, an increase of 19 homes sold
- Average Price was down 3%
- Median Price was down 4.7%
- The 111 homes listed last month was a 18.1% increase YoY
- Market Dollar Volume was up 27.8% at $27.6M
YTD
- Homes Sales are down 10% YTD through September; a decrease of 79 homes sold this year
- Average Price is up 0.03% at $367.8K
- Median Price is up 1.2% at $328,750
- Average DOM is down 4.2% at 23 days-on-market
- 996 Homes have been listed so far this year; a decrease of 2.3% from last year
- Total Market Dollar Volume is down 9.9% YTD for a total of $262.6M
- Average Per-Square-Foot for the year is at $195/sq.ft., up from $193/sq.ft. in 2025
Active Properties
- There are 186 "Active" properties in Lawrence, an increase of 6.9% since my last update
- There are 72 properties currently listed as "Under Contract" which is a decrease of 5.3% since my last update
- The average list price of homes currently Under Contract is $394,441
- The average DOM for Under Contract homes is 25 Days
- The average list price of homes currently Active is $463,968
- The average DOM for Active homes is 75 Days
- Months-of-Supply: There is currently 2.4 months-of-supply in Lawrence
Stay tuned to R+K Real Estate for great new content, updates, advice, opinions and more in 2026. 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
