Hometown Lawrence: Local real estate market stays consistent

September’s modest drop in overall home sales, coupled with sluggish new construction sales, reflects what has been the general course for Lawrence home sales in 2014.

“September home sales fell in line with the trends we’ve seen all year,” said Susan Bonham, President of the Lawrence Board of Realtors. “The sale of newly constructed homes is really lagging, while existing home sales remain solid.” 

The total number of home sales in September 2014 was 68 units, down from 69 in 2013 – a decrease of 1.4 percent. Among existing homes, 64 units sold in September, an increase of 6.7 percent from 60 units that sold in 2013. The average sale price of existing homes was $189,907. This represents a decrease of 6 percent from the September 2013 average price of $201,967.

Hometown Lawrence

Hometown Lawrence is the Lawrence Journal-World’s real estate resource section and website. For more information on area real estate listings, go to HometownLawrence.com.

Four new construction sales occurred in September, down from nine units the prior year, a decrease of 55.6 percent. The average sale price of new homes in September was $379,448, up 37.6 percent from the same period last year.

The Lawrence real estate market saw a double-digit increase in total homes sales during both 2012 and 2013, the strongest sales in the state for those years, which makes the modest numbers for 2014 less of a concern.

“Overall, we continue to be slightly behind last year’s pace, after two years of double digit gains,” said Bonham.

A total of 73 contracts for sale were written in September 2014, up from 58 in September 2013. This is an increase of 25.9 percent. Contracts written during the month reflect, in part, sales that will close in the near future.

The inventory of active listings in the city of Lawrence stood at 426 units at the beginning of September, which is down from 450 homes that were on the market at the beginning of September last year. At the current rate of sales, this figure represents 6.3 months’ supply of homes on the market.