photo by: AdobeStock

An AdobeStock image shows models of homes.

If you have hidden a dozen Easter eggs in your yard this season, you’ve probably increased your home’s value by about 20%. Such are the times.

Fortunately — for those looking to buy a home, anyway — that’s not the data in the Lawrence market. Home sales in March were up compared to a year ago, but home prices actually were down a bit.

Lawrence home sales increased by 21% from a year ago, according to the latest report from the Lawrence Board of Realtors. However, the median selling price of homes during the month fell by 4.6%.

Both results are a little bit atypical for the year. The more than 20% increase in homes sold is the largest jump registered thus far in 2025 for the Lawrence market. The nearly 5% decline in the median selling price for a home was the first monthly decline recorded for the year.

As I’ve written before, I don’t make too much of just one month’s worth of data. However, a quarter of the year is now in the books, and it is worth looking at the year-to-date trends. Through March, home sales are up 11.5% from the same period a year ago. The median selling price for the first quarter of the year is up 5.7% from the same period a year ago. The median selling price now stands at $322,450. If that number shocks you, it might be a sign you are still stuck in 2023. Back then, the median selling price of a Lawrence home was just $285,000. (Another sign that you are stuck in 2023 is that you have never thought of dying potatoes as a replacement for Easter eggs. Here’s an idea, candy, candy, candy.)

Other Lawrence statistics from the first quarter of 2025 include:

• The number of active listings on the market in March was 115, which is down from 124 in March 2024, but up from 99 in March 2023.

• The median number of days a home sat on the market before selling is 17. That’s up from 13 in the first quarter of 2024 and up from 7 days in the first quarter of 2023.

• The total dollar value of homes sold thus far in 2025 is $62.1 million. That’s up 16% from the same period a year ago.

Interestingly, the Lawrence data is quite a bit different than what is happening in the Kansas City market, according to the latest report from the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. Home sales in the K.C. metro fell by almost 5% in March.

Looking at the year-to-date figures, homes sales in the K.C. metro are down 1.6% from a year ago, and the median selling price is up almost 8%. The median selling price checks in at $300,000, or about $20,000 less than the median selling price in Lawrence.

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photo by: AdobeStock

November 10, 2022, Brazil. In this photo illustration, the Google Fiber logo is displayed on a smartphone screen

In other news and notes from around town, there is a small update on the part of your home that some members of your household may be most tethered to — the internet service.

You may recall in July that we reported Google Fiber signed a franchise agreement with the city that will allow infrastructure for the ultra-fast internet service to be installed in the city rights-of-way. That’s the first step to bringing the gigabit service to Lawrence.

Soon, there will be another sign that Google Fiber is coming to the city. Google plans to soon build a small facility in Lawrence’s Venture Park in eastern Lawrence to house key equipment for the new broadband service in Lawrence.

Earlier this month, Lawrence city commissioners approved an intent to lease city property to Google for an approximately 1,600 square foot building to house various equipment. The building is slated to be near the southwest corner of O’Connell Road and Venture Park Drive. Under the terms of the deal, Google will pay the city about $30,000 per year to lease the land. The agreement doesn’t specify when the Google Fiber service may be active in Lawrence, but documents provided to the city indicated Google hopes to begin constructing the new new facility in about 90 days.