If you have ever had luck in the world of speed dating, then maybe Lawrence’s real estate market is right for you. Speed home buying — out of necessity — appears to be the new trend in the local real estate market. In April, Lawrence homes were only on the market for an average of 11 days before they sold.

But while speed dating can lead to a wonderful evening talking about the companionship of cats, life lessons of Star Trek, and a worldview centered on the immeasurable benefits of “covfefe,” speed is not doing great things for the local real estate market. The latest report from the Lawrence Board of Realtors found that while the market has become fast-moving, it produced fewer Lawrence home buyers in April.

April home sales fell by 9.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to the Board of Realtors. Real estate agents report that demand for homes remains strong in Lawrence, but there just aren’t enough people putting their homes on the market.

“Buyers aren’t finding homes to buy, or are competing with multiple offers on homes,” Mark Hess, president of the Board of Realtors, said in a release. “These market conditions cannot support the current demand, and sales are lower this last month as a result.”

The number that best shows the tightness of the Lawrence real estate market is the number of active listings available to buyers. In April, there were 228 active listings. That was down from 250 in April 2016 and down from 346 in April 2015.

But there is one other force in the market that may turn around that trend: Homes are becoming more expensive, which may cause more homeowners to consider selling. Of course, rising home prices run counter to the efforts of politicians to battle Lawrence’s affordable housing issues. Regardless, home prices are on the rise, and particularly so in April. The median selling price of homes in April rose to $177,000, up more than 7 percent from the same period a year ago.

How high home prices rise, whether more people put their homes up for sale, and whether home builders start building significantly larger amounts of new housing in Lawrence, are all interesting questions to monitor in the coming months. It also will be important to see whether April is the beginning of a new downward trend for the local real estate market.

Despite the market being tight all year, home sales in the early part of 2017 were still making gains. Even with the poor April, home sales year to date are still up compared with the same period in 2016. Here’s a look at year-to-date numbers:

• Real estate agents have sold 325 homes thus far in 2017, which is about a 5.5 percent increase from the same four months in 2016.

• Sales of newly constructed homes are now driving the entire increase in home sales in Lawrence. There have been 40 sales of newly constructed homes, compared with 23 at this time last year. The number of existing homes that have sold in Lawrence is stagnant.

• Year to date, the median selling price of Lawrence homes is $177,500, which is up from about $168,000 a year ago. Interestingly, though, the median selling price for newly constructed homes has fallen considerably to $298,700. That’s down more than 8 percent from last year’s level of about $326,000.

• Thus far in 2017, the median number of days a home sits on the market before selling is 18. That’s down from 28 in 2016 and 43 in 2015. But as I noted earlier, the pace is quickening. The median number of days for homes sold in April was just 11 days.

In case you are wondering whether the trends in Lawrence are unique, they are not. According to a report from the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors, home prices are rising even quicker in Johnson County, and the number of sales are also falling at a faster rate.

Through April, the number of sales in Johnson County has dropped by 3 percent, and in April alone they were down by 11 percent. Year to date the median selling price for Johnson County homes has risen by 9 percent to $260,000. The number of homes on the market is down by 15 percent compared with the same period a year ago.