After hitting a bit of a wall in June, the Lawrence market certainly picked back up a little in July. That's important after my last market update post cautioned against reading too much into June's soft numbers. The Lawrence market seems to do this; one month sees soft activity and then the next it's picked up serious steam, only to lose it again the following month. Kind of like the recent news in the financial markets!
And the financial markets are also important to consider here. I seldom bring them up, but there's no doubt that financial markets affect real estate. Particularly in the ballpark of interest rates. The Fed held rates at their last meeting, but with recent turmoil in the markets, it seems that a drop in rates is all-the-more-likely by September. Indeed our lender friends have already been preparing us to expect a drop in rates soon. Great news!
The average price of homes sold in Lawrence in July was a very strong $361.6K. Fewer homes were listed in July compared to June, so inventory remains tight. Total sales for the year remain up from last year, but just barely. This market will need every bit of a rate drop to keep sales going into fall. At the moment, it looks unlikely that we'll gain much against 2023's massive decline in homes sales in town.
All of the stats that follow are sourced from the Lawrence MLS. What follows is a look at some numbers through the month of July 2024 within the city limits of Lawrence:
Month-over-Month
- July home sales increase 9.5% from the previous month (89 vs 84)
- Average price increased by 8.0% in July vs. the previous month, up to $361.6K
- Average Days-on-Market decreased 10.5% from 19 to 17 Days-on-Market
- 101 homes were listed in July, a decrease from 157 listed in June
- List-Price-to-Sales-Price Ratio for July was 98.5%
- Average Per-Square-Foot in July was 183/sq.ft. which is a decrease of 3.7% from June
Year-over-Year
- Home sales were up 17.1% in July '24 vs July '23, an increase of 13 homes sold
- Average Price was up YoY 8.7% compared to July '23
- Dollar Volume was up 27.3% vs July '23 for a total of $32.2M in the month
- The 101 homes listed last month was a 2.9% decrease vs. July '23
- Average Per-Square-Foot was up 11.6% in July 24 vs. July '23
YTD
- Homes Sales are up 2.8% YTD through July; an increase of 15 homes sold this year
- Average Price is up 5.3% this year
- Average DOM is up from 16 Days to 21 Days, a 31.3% increase
- 779 Homes have been listed so far this year, a 8.3% increase over last year
- Dollar Volume is up 8.2% YTD for a total of $191.6M
- Average Per-Square-Foot for the year is at $186/sq.ft., up from $174/sq.ft. in 2023
Active Properties
- There are 143 "Active" properties in Lawrence as of this writing; a decrease of 10.1% since my last market update.
- There are 87 properties currently listed as "Under Contract." This is an decrease of 5.4% since my last market update
This month I'm including a new stat in Average Price-per-square-foot. I like this statistic and it's one I rely on often when evaluating a home coming to market. It can be a fairly handy metric when comparing a home to another one recently sold. Smaller homes tend to have high per-square-foot prices, and so do recently updated homes. Homes with lots of deferred maintenance usually clock in lower. There are very few homes in Lawrence that come in under $100/sq.ft. and the average has been creeping upwards. Soon (next year?) it will exceed $200 on average for the first time. So, it should be fun to track this stat going forward!
The summer is nearly over. Back-to-school is next week. Labor Day is in just a few weeks. The fall market is nearly here! Will we see a September spike in 2024? Will rates actually drop, and if they do will there be a corresponding jump in market activity? I'm certainly optimistic at this point. While I expect August's numbers to be very soft, I am expecting stronger numbers in sales and prices in September, October, and November. But, there's a major election this year, and that can sometimes cause sellers and buyers to pause. There's so much going on, it's very hard to predict!
Another item to note, Monday August 12th is when the Offer of Buyer Agent Compensation comes off the MLS. We are eagerly looking forward to this coming change and believe that along with it comes more transparency and options for consumers looking to buy or sell a home. We intend the leverage this change to the benefit of our clients as we navigate a continually shifting marketplace. R+K Real Estate is the only company in the area that offers 1% full-service real estate!
Stay tuned to R+K Real Estate for great new content, updates, advice, opinions and more in 2024. We plan to continue our advance of transparency, consumer advocacy, and empowering our clients with alternate business models designed to provide high levels or real estate service with drastically reduced commissions!
-Ryan Desch, Broker/Owner R+K Real Estate Solutions
