After showing signs of cooling off in September, Lawrence’s residential real estate market heated right back up again in October.

October homes sales in Lawrence rose by 17 percent compared with the same time period of a year ago. Home sales in Lawrence have increased for nine of the 10 months on record in 2013. But the one month that showed a decline was September, which meant real estate observers were waiting to see whether that was the beginning of a new slowdown in the market.

October’s numbers suggest the Lawrence market has dodged a late season slump. Now, the question turns to whether the Lawrence market can dodge something even nastier: the impact of the federal government shutdown.

John Esau, the president of the Lawrence Board of Realtors, noted the only negative in this month’s report is that the number of new contracts real estate agents wrote during October was down about 12.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Esau speculated that was because during October the government shutdown created concerns about lenders being able to timely process loans and also created economic concerns among buyers.

The shutdown happened during the early parts of October, but most of its impacts on real estate sales likely won’t show up until the November report. That’s because October’s report largely shows sales that had contracts written in September, before the shutdown. November’s report will have sales that had contracts largely written in October. (There’s no set formula, but generally it takes a few weeks for a sale to be finalized on a house.)

So, it will be interesting to see if November’s home sale numbers take a hit, but it likely won’t be too much to be worried about since the shutdown is now over. Indeed, the Lawrence real estate market for all of 2013 has been pretty worry free. Here’s a look at several of the most recent statistics:

• Through October, Lawrence home sales for all of 2013 total 948, up 20.5 percent from a year ago. Compared with 2011, home sales are up nearly 53 percent.

• Sales of newly constructed homes are up about 21 percent compared with a year ago. A total of 86 new homes have been sold, up from 71 at this time in 2012 and 55 in 2011. It is worth noting, however, October 2013 wasn’t a good month for new-constructed home sales. Only four sold in Lawrence in October, down from 11 in October 2012.

• The median selling price for a home in Lawrence is $170,000, up 7.3 percent from a year ago. Interestingly, the median selling price is about where it was in 2011, when it checked in at $168,250. Last year’s rebound in the market partially was fueled by a significant drop in housing prices. This year’s strong market, however, is happening as average home prices increase.

• The median number of days a home sits on the market is down to 42, compared with 61 in 2012 and 59 in 2011.

• The supply of homes available for sale continues to shrink. At the end of October there were 428 active listings, down from 490 in October 2012 and 575 in October 2013. Based on current sales activity, there is about a 5.9 month supply of homes currently on the market. In October 2011, there was about a 13.4 month supply of homes on the market.