A national recession couldn't keep Lawrence's housing market down last year, and that has area real estate professionals looking forward to continued sales strength in 2002.
Buyers snapped up 1,888 single-family homes last year in Douglas County, up 9.8 percent from 2000, according to a year-end report issued Wednesday by the Douglas County Appraiser's Office.
The sales totals included 1,575 in Lawrence and North Lawrence, up 12.6 percent from a year earlier.
"The interest rates dropping at the end of the year helped considerably," said Caren Rowland, president of the Lawrence Board of Realtors and branch broker for Coldwell Banker McGrew Real Estate in Eudora. "They weren't over 8 (percent) all year long. They weren't over 7 (percent) for most of the last quarter. We're getting spoiled."
The Lawrence area's success came amid a record year for U.S. home sales. When it releases year-end data later this month, the National Association of Realtors expects 2001 to finish with 5.25 million sales of existing homes and 902,000 sales of new homes.
Both would represent increases of 2.5 percent compared with 2000, the association said, and give the economy reason for optimism heading into a new year.
"Much of our economic activity is being sustained by the strong housing market, which will lead us out of the shallow recession (that) began last spring," said David Lereah, the association's chief economist.
Nationwide, the association expects the median existing home price to be $146,600 in 2001, up 5.5 percent from a year earlier, the association said. The typical new home went for $171,200, up 1.3 percent from 2000.
In Douglas County, the average price paid for a home last year was $150,229, up $7,305, or 5.1 percent, according to the appraiser's office. Coupled with the increase in transactions, total sales for the year reached $283.6 million, up 15.4 percent.
The average sale in Lawrence closed for $152,028 last year, up $6,128, or 4.2 percent. The average home sale in North Lawrence an area the appraiser's office tracks separately from Lawrence was $92,593, up $4,410, or 5 percent.
The combination of rising home valuations and declining mortgage rates helped buyers and sellers move in and move up last year, said Bryan Hedges, president and broker for Realty Executives-Hedges Real Estate Inc., 1037 Vt.
He said he expected the activity to continue well into 2002.
"Buyers are really interest-rate conscious," Hedges said. "When rates are low, they look to buy."
Here's how the residential markets in area communities fared in 2001, and change from 2000, according to the appraiser's office:
Baldwin: 70 sales, down 22.2 percent; average sale of $127,840, up 12.6 percent.
Eudora: 122 sales, up 10.9 percent; average sale of $127,604, up 9.9 percent.
Lecompton: Six sales, up 50 percent; average sale of $58,917, down 32.1 percent.
Rural Douglas County: 115 sales, down 0.9 percent; average sale of $193,525, up 8.6 percent.
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