LEXINGTON, Ky. — The housing market in Central and Southern Kentucky is approaching better balance between buyers and sellers, as inventory hit a seven-year July high in 2026, even as demand remained strong enough to push median home prices to a record $310,000.
Housing inventory across the Bluegrass Realtors market reached 4,399 homes in July, up 10% from 4,002 a year earlier and marking the highest July inventory level since 2019. The improvement represents the third consecutive month with more than 4,000 homes on the market — a milestone not achieved since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
Inventory has climbed year-over-year for 33 consecutive months, according to Bluegrass Realtors, which represents more than 4,000 real estate professionals across 38 Kentucky counties including Fayette, Franklin and surrounding areas.
“The market has needed an injection of homes to come online for quite some time,” said Bluegrass Realtors President Mike Inman. “However, we can definitely use more selection as demand remains strong.”
Despite the growing supply, home sales continued to accelerate. A total of 1,487 residential transactions closed during July, up 4% from 1,429 a year earlier and marking the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth. Single-family home sales drove much of the activity, increasing 8% to 1,411 from 1,310 in July 2025.
New construction proved to be another bright spot, with buyers purchasing 162 newly constructed homes during July, up 30% from 125 a year earlier. That represented the second-highest July new construction sales total since 2010.
The median sales price reached a record $310,000 in July, a 6% increase from $292,000 in July 2025 and 3% above the previous record of $300,000 set in June. Single-family home prices increased 7% to $311,000 from $290,000 a year earlier.
The combination of higher prices and increased sales pushed the total value of July real estate transactions to a record $539 million, an 8% increase from $498 million a year earlier. Year-to-date transaction volume reached $2.9 billion, up 10% from $2.6 billion in 2025.
Months of inventory increased to 3 months in July from 2.9 months in June, representing the highest July level since 2019. Homes spent an average of 41 days on the market in July, unchanged from July 2025.
“Buyers are benefiting from more choices and a little more time to make decisions, while sellers continue to see strong demand and historically high prices,” Inman said. “That combination is a positive sign for the health of the market.”
Sources
This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Lane Report (KY Business), enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://www.lanereport.com/189113/2026/08/kentucky-housing-inventory-home-sales-prices-july-2026/.
