Courtesy: Paul Werner Architects

It seems certain that November’s Lawrence real estate report will show large amounts of activity. Thousands of Royals fans from Lawrence are discovering it is easier to buy a house in Kansas City than to get their car out of downtown following Tuesday’s massive parade and rally. Well, I don’t have November’s numbers yet, but the latest report from the Lawrence Board of Realtors shows the city’s real estate market continues to be a hot one.

Home sales in Lawrence are up 17 percent compared with a year ago, according to the latest report, which tracks sales through September. The strong numbers are despite a relatively ho-hum month of sales in September. Home sales basically were steady in September compared with a year ago — 70 sales in September 2015 compared with 69 in September 2014.

The report, however, did show signs that activity levels are set to rise again in the fall. Real estate agents had 86 contracts for sale written in September, up from 69 in September 2014. Contracts written during a month are usually a good indicator of home sales that will be finalized in the next month or so.

Local real estate agents certainly wouldn’t mind if something caused more Lawrence residents to put their homes on the market. A decline in the number of homes for sale may be the biggest threat to the local real estate market right now. The number of active listings is down to 322 homes, which is about 25 percent less than at this point a year ago.

Here’s a look at some other statistics from the report:

• Sales totals for newly constructed homes are at their highest levels in awhile. Through September, 64 new homes sales have been recorded. That’s an increase of a little more than 25 percent compared with the same period a year ago. In dollar terms, there have been $21 million in new homes sales compared with $16.5 million a year ago.

• The value of total home sales — both newly constructed and existing homes — stands at $195.1 million through September, up from $161.3 million a year ago.

• The median number of days a home is sitting on the market before it sells is now down to 24. That’s down from 33 in 2014 and 42 in 2013.

• Data selling prices for homes show there is a bit of an uptick in prices as the market has heated up. The Douglas County appraiser’s office released a report recently that said the average selling price for a three-bedroom, two-bath home with 1,300 to 1,800 square feet is $168,120. That’s up from an average of $161,325 at this point last year. It also is up from an average of $165,680 in 2013.

So, those numbers suggest home values indeed fell in 2014, but they have now returned to levels above where they were before the decline. Home values, though, can be hard to pin down because there are a multitude of variables. The Douglas County appraiser’s office, however, gets the chore of setting home values. It places a value on every home in the county so that your property tax bills can be figured. The office is beginning that work now. It is required to come up with what the value of a home is on Jan. 1, 2016.

The office tracks the selling price of every home sale that occurs in the county, then compares it with the value the county had previously placed on that home. Thus far, homes are selling — on average — for about 1 percent more than what the county has them listed at on the tax rolls. If that trend continues, the county appraiser probably won’t make many large changes to the tax values of homes across the county. But we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see if that trend continues.

Owners of commercial property may have more to keep an eye on when it comes to their tax values. Thus far, selling prices of commercial property are coming in about 9 percent higher than what the county has them listed at on the tax rolls. There are a lot of variables in commercial property valuations, but the appraiser will be keeping an eye on those statistics.

“In fact, the most recent sales prices have far exceeded the 2015 valuation,” Steve Miles, Douglas County appraiser, wrote in a recent report. “It will require more analysis to determine the effect on 2016 values.”

• In case you are wondering how Lawrence’s home market is doing compared with the always active Kansas City metro market, I have those numbers too. In short, Lawrence’s market is hotter than Kansas City’s, thus far in 2015.

Total homes sales in the KC metro are up 12.5 percent through September compared with a 17 percent increase in Lawrence. But home values in the Kansas City area seem to be increasing faster than in Lawrence. According to a report from the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors, the median sales price for homes in the metro is up 6.3 percent compared with a year ago.

In other news and notes from around town:

• The development group that is seeking city approval for some drive-thru restaurants near the southeast corner of Clinton Parkway and Inverness has given me some additional information about what type of tenants they will try to attract.

If you remember, earlier this week we reported on the project and Lawrence-based architect Paul Werner tried to head off any concerns that the location was going to attract high-volume, fast-food chains, like a McDonald’s or a Burger King. Those types of restaurants have drawn opposition from some neighbors who are concerned about the businesses’ long hours and the amount of traffic and noise they may create.

In our original article, Werner said a coffee shop with a drive-thru would be much more likely. Some neighbors, though, still had concerns because the plans filed with the city show three fast-order restaurants on the site, with two of them having drive-thru service.

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