We are very nearly halfway through the year and the real estate market in Lawrence is struggling! Spring market is over and May stats are in. While sales did increase from April, both sales and average price were down dramatically in May this year compared with May 2025.
Year-to-date numbers reveal that home sales are down over 15% while average price is down about 2.5%. Median price is holding steady, so it's not all bad news. Homes in the more affordable price ranges are still moving quickly. Homes priced over $400,000 tend to be lingering longer than those in the lower price ranges.
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
- May home sales increased 20.4% from the previous month with 112 sold homes
- Average Price increased 0.2% in May vs. the previous month, up to 358.6K
- Median Price decreased 0.2% to $329,250
- Average DOM was down 11.8% at 15 days-on-market
- 111 homes were listed in May, an decrease from 154 listed in April
- List-Price-to-Sales-Price Ratio for May was 99.2%
- Average Per-Square-Foot in May was 195/sq.ft.
Year-over-Year
- Home sales were down 18.8% in May '26 vs May '25, a decrease of 26 homes sold
- Average Price was down 5.1%
- Median Price was down 4.6%
- The 111 homes listed last month was a 27.9% decrease YoY
- Market Dollar Volume was down 22.8% at $40.2M
YTD
- Homes Sales are down 15.6% YTD through May; a decrease of 66 homes sold this year
- Average Price is down 2.5%
- Median Price is flat
- Average DOM is down 17.2% at 24 days-on-market
- 539 Homes have been listed so far this year; a decrease of 10.5% from last year
- Total Market Dollar Volume is down 17.7% YTD for a total of $126.8M
- Average Per-Square-Foot for the year is at $196/sq.ft., up from $191/sq.ft. in 2025
Active Properties
- There are 156 "Active" properties in Lawrence, an increase of 32.2% since my last update
- There are 98 properties currently listed as "Under Contract" which is a decrease of 31.9% since my last update
- The average list price of homes currently Under Contract is $439,050
- The average list price of homes currently Active is $500,200
- Months-of-Supply: There is currently 2.0 months-of-supply in Lawrence
Months-of-supply is currently sitting at 2.0 months. This indicates that for the first time in a while, housing inventory has increased to a more balanced level. I'm hesitant to say that we're fully out of a seller's market, but anything between 2-4 months of supply is considered a balanced market that isn't necessarily preferring buyers or sellers over the other. We would need to have over 4 months-of-supply to be in a buyer's market. We're still a long ways off from that!
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
