photo by: AdobeStock

An AdobeStock image shows models of homes.

There was a cooldown in July, even if — like me — you were prohibited from touching your home’s thermostat. (I was allowed two glasses per day from the Gatorade station in our living room.) Lawrence’s hot real estate market began to retreat during the month, according to the latest figures from the Lawrence Board of Realtors.

Lawrence home sales in July fell by 6.3% compared to July 2024 totals. July was the first month in 2025 that homes sales were lower than the same month the year before, according to the latest statistics from the Board of Realtors.

As a result, Lawrence’s real estate market has posted some strong sales numbers for the year. Even with the decline in July, homes sales year-to-date are up 10.1% compared to the same period a year ago. That 10% growth rate is the best seven-month showing for Lawrence’s home market since at least July 2018, which is as far back as the Board or Realtor’s online database goes.

Don’t get confused by that statistic though. I’m not saying the Lawrence real estate market is producing the most home sales since at least 2018. That’s not remotely true. Instead, I’m saying that the Lawrence housing market is experiencing its best rebound year — thus far — since at least 2018.

The last time a July housing report for Lawrence showed home sales were up anywhere close to 10% was in July 2020, when they were up 8.8%. The Lawrence home market went on to finish 2020 strong, and posted an 11.5% growth in home sales for the year.

The home market this year may challenge that 11.5% growth rate. We’ve got five more months of sales to add to the year’s tally, so a strong finish could make 2025 the fastest-growing year for the Lawrence home market this decade.

But again, that number only means so much. The total number of homes being sold in Lawrence is still well below historical norms. Through July there have been 635 homes sold. That’s up from the 577 sold through July 2024 and better than the modern-era low of 544 homes in July 2023. However, the 635 sold homes is still almost 25% less than what local real estate agents had sold through July 2018. Agents had sold more than 800 homes through July 2018. Furthermore, it was common in almost any year for at least 700 homes to be sold in the first seven months of the year in Lawrence.

So, 635 homes sold is an improvement over the last couple of years, but is still well below previous years. The housing market has been depressed in Lawrence ever since 2023, when mortgage rates neared 8% by the end of that year.

The national average today is a little more than 6.5% for a 30-year mortgage, but there is speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate, which could lead lenders to lower their mortgage rates too.

Whether that rate cut happens probably will go a long way in determining whether the Lawrence housing market finishes the year strong. The July numbers seem to indicate that buyers are pulling back at the current interest rate levels.

What’s surprising is that it has taken Lawrence buyers this long to pull back. Lawrence’s 10.1% increase in single family sales in 2025 is far better than other markets. Home sale totals in the KC metro area, for example, are up just 2.1% through July, according to the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors.

Whatever the reason, Lawrence’s real estate market has held up better.

But here’s the other surprising thing about the Lawrence real estate market: Despite the sales growth, the price of homes hasn’t been rising as much as you might expect. The median selling price for a Lawrence home thus far in 2025 is $325,000, which is up 3.2% from a year ago. That 3.2% growth in home prices is far less than some past years, and it also is less than what is happening in the Kansas City market. The median selling price for a home in Kansas City is up 5.2% thus far in 2025. However, it is worth noting that what you will pay for the median home in Lawrence is still higher than what you would pay in Kansas City — $325,000 in Lawrence versus about $320,000 in the KC metro. That’s the number that buyers probably care most about.

Here’s a look at a few other numbers from the July report of the Lawrence Board of Realtors:

• For the 89 homes that sold in July, the median selling price actually was less than the 95 homes that sold in July 2024. The median selling price dropped by 1.7%. That’s a big difference than what we’ve seen in past years, but is indicative of what is going on across the country. The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development earlier this week released a national report that found the national median selling price in July was 5% below July 2024 totals, although those numbers are subject to future revisions.

• The number of homes on the market has fallen. At the end of July, there were 140 homes on the market, compared to 174 during the same period a year ago.

• For the year, the median number of days a home has been on the market before selling is six days, which is unchanged from a year ago. However, when looking just at sales made in July, you could see the market slowing down. For homes that sold in July, the median number of days on the market was 11.