A very strange year in the Lawrence real estate market continues to tell it's very strange tale. July tends to be a quieter month after the spring market has settled and concluded. But this July shows some especially poor metrics for home sales.
Home sale prices were down nearly across the board, month-over-month and year-over-year. The only metric in the black was median sale price actually increased in July in 2026 over 2025. Looking at the properties still listed at "active" in the MLS shows a start contrast that has been the story of the year: either a home sells in less than two weeks, or it sits for months.
Heading to the fall, we'll have to see if the fall market shapes up the same way it has now for the past several years. Despite all the struggles, average and median prices are largely holding steady year-to-date. Right now, I'm seeing some early signs that things should pick up and I'm optimistic heading into this fall!
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
- July home sales decreased 23.1% from the previous month with 80 sold homes
- Average Price decreased 7.8% in July vs. the previous month, down to 375.1K
- Median Price decreased 10.9% to $328,500
- Average DOM increased 33.3% to 20 days-on-market
- 116 homes were listed in July, a 4.9% decrease from 122 listed in June
- List-Price-to-Sales-Price Ratio for July was 98.7%
- Average Per-Square-Foot in July was 191/sq.ft.
Year-over-Year
- Home sales were down 12.1% in July '26 vs July '25, a decrease of 11 homes sold
- Average Price was down 3.8%
- Median Price was up 2.5%
- The 116 homes listed last month was a 6.4% decrease YoY
- Market Dollar Volume was down 15.5% at $30.0M
YTD
- Homes Sales are down 14.1% YTD through July; a decrease of 89 homes sold this year
- Average Price is up 0.1% at $368.1K
- Median Price is up 1.7% at $330,000
- Average DOM is down 12% at 22 days-on-market
- 784 Homes have been listed so far this year; a decrease of 6.3% from last year
- Total Market Dollar Volume is down 13.99% YTD for a total of $199.9M
- Average Per-Square-Foot for the year is at $195/sq.ft., up from $193/sq.ft. in 2025
Active Properties
- There are 162 "Active" properties in Lawrence, an decrease of 7.4% since my last update
- There are 88 properties currently listed as "Under Contract" which is a decrease of 5.1% since my last update
- The average list price of homes currently Under Contract is $385,565
- The average DOM for Under Contract homes is 31 Days
- The average list price of homes currently Active is $478,995
- The average DOM for Active homes is 80 Days
- Months-of-Supply: There is currently 2.2 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
