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An AdobeStock image shows models of homes.

More homes for sale in Lawrence did not lead to more homes actually being bought in the city last month, according to the latest report from the Lawrence Board of Realtors.

For years, local real estate agents have said the biggest obstacle to boosting the city’s home sales has been a lack of homes on the market. The Lawrence market in June, however, saw a more than 20% increase in the number of homes for sale. Yet, total home sales in June were down by about 15% from June 2025 totals.

Local real estate leaders, though, aren’t scratching their heads about why the numbers aren’t matching up. The reason: Most of the new homes that came on the market are in the highest of price ranges.

“Lawrence buyers are seeing more choices than they had a year ago, but the additional inventory is concentrated in higher price ranges,” Erin Maigaard, president of the Lawrence Board of Realtors said in the organization’s latest report. “Entry-level and workforce housing remain in critically short supply, continuing to place affordability pressure on first-time buyers and households seeking homes under $250,000.”

There were 34 homes with prices between $600,000 and $749,999 on the market in Lawrence in June, according to the report. No other price range had more homes listed in Lawrence, according to the June statistics. In addition there were 16 homes listed with prices at or above $750,000. That makes for an even 50 homes on the market with an asking price of $600,000 or more.

That is compared to just 31 Lawrence homes that had an asking price of $250,000 or less in June.

The breakdown of how many homes are listed in specific price ranges is not a statistic I look at often, but the odd June numbers caused me to do so this month. They do tell a story of how the local market is becoming more skewed to upper end homes. Below is a list of the different home price categories that the Lawrence Board of Realtors tracks. The numbers show the amount of listing in June 2026, and how much those listings are up or down compared to June 2025.

• Below $50,000: 0 listing in June 2026, down 3 listings from June 2025

• $50,000 to $99,999: 4 listings, unchanged

• $100,000 to $149,999: 7 listings, down 2

• $150,000 to $199,999: 5 listings, down 1

• $200,000 to $249,999: 15 listings, up 3

• $250,000 to $299,999: 24 listings, down 2

• $300,000 to $349,999: 23 listings, up 5

• $350,000 to $399,999: 16 listings, down 1

• $400,000 to $449,999: 12 listings, up 2

• $500,000 to $599,999: 19 listings, up 4

• $600,000 to $749,999: 34 listings, up 22

• $750,000 to $999,999: 10 listings, up 2

• $1 million or more: 6 listings, down 1

What the chart shows is that nearly every price category is about where it was a year ago, except for the $600,000 to $749,999 category. That category has seen a nearly 65% increase in the number of homes on the market.

The monthly report from the Realtors doesn’t get into why there are so many top-end homes on the Lawrence market. One explanation could be that builders haven’t been able to figure out how to build homes for less than $600,000, given the cost of building materials and Lawrence land. But, it is important to remember that the monthly Realtors report doesn’t just measure newly constructed homes that are on the market. It measures existing homes that have come on the market as well. There may be some reasons that existing owners of $600K-plus homes in Lawrence are putting them on the market in greater numbers.

Here’s a look at other numbers of note from the June Realtors report:

• Lawrence homes sold in June totaled 104, down about 15% from June 2025 totals.

• Lawrence is on pace to have declining home sales for the year. Through the first six months of the year, home sales total 466, down from 549 sales during the same period a year ago. This year’s sales are also down from the 482 Lawrence sales that were recorded in the first half of 2024.

• There were 193 active listings in Lawrence in June. That was up from 157 in June 2025 and 183 in June 2024.

• The Lawrence homes that sold in June were far more expensive than homes that sold in June 2025. The median selling price for a Lawrence home last month was $368,750. That was about a 20% increase from June 2025 levels. When you look at selling prices for the entire year, though, a different picture emerges. The median selling price thus far for all of 2026 is $330,000. That is up just 1.6% from the first six months of 2025. I never put too much stock in the median price of a single month, so I’m not sure that the June surge is a sign of things to come, but it will be something to keep an eye on.

• Homes that do sell are continuing to sell quickly. The median number of days a home sits on the market before selling has been 7 days thus far in 2026. That is up from 6 days during the first half of 2025.

• Preliminary numbers suggest July home sales may be a bit sluggish. The June report listed a total of 69 new contracts that were written in June. That’s down from 90 in June 2025, meaning that July 2026 started with far fewer sales in the pipeline.