Spurred by low interest rates and heartened by a stable local economy and rising property values, home buyers are pushing home prices into never-before-seen heights for Lawrence.

The average price paid for a single-family home surged to nearly $207,000 in September, the first time the city’s monthly average topped $200,000.

The average comes from 92 sales in the city, excluding North Lawrence.

“Lawrence is a strong market,” said Paul Forio, a Realtor for Lawrence Realty Associates and past president of the Lawrence Board of Realtors. “The low interest rates have allowed people to buy more home — those who haven’t refinanced have been able to buy more home for their growing families, and that’s been good.”

The sales data from the Douglas County Appraiser’s Office, which includes sales of new and existing homes, came after the National Association of Realtors reported this week that sales of existing homes increased 3.1 percent in September to the third-highest level on record.

Last month’s 92 total sales in Lawrence were down from 96 a year earlier, but homes that did sell went for more money. Buyers paid an average $206,972 last month, up 4.2 percent from $198,163 in September 2003.

Declining interest rates continue to help keep buyers in the market. This week Freddie Mac reported that interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.64 percent, the lowest average since 5.52 percent in April.

With rates fluctuating between 5.5 percent and 6 percent, Forio said, buyers have incentive to invest in a healthy real-estate market, one in which prices are rising at least in part because of rising construction costs.

“Certainly, the interest rates have worked in the favor of buyers,” Forio said.

Home sales for all of Douglas County continue to lag behind last year’s pace. There have been 1,684 single-family homes sold during the first three quarters of the year, down 6 percent from the 1,791 sales through September 2003.

This home listed at 24,900 is for sale on Park Place in west Lawrence. The average price paid in September for a Lawrence home topped 00,000.

Here are the number of homes sold, and average prices paid, during September elsewhere in the county, and comparisons with a year earlier:

• North Lawrence: seven, no change; $97,571, down from $102,400.
• Baldwin: four, down from seven; $155,500, up from $130,564.
• Eudora: eight, down from nine; $151,150, down from $160,467.
• Lecompton: zero, down from one; none, unchanged from $155,000.
• Rural areas: 15, up from eight; $157,127, down from $180,119.
• County (total): 126, down from 128; $197,262, up from $185,114.