Home prices rising in counties surrounding Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Real estate prices in central Kentucky are the highest they’ve been since September. Data from the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors shows median prices are up 9% from March 2021 across 30 Kentucky counties.

Three counties that border Fayette are seeing higher median prices than Lexington.

It’s Woodford, Jessamine, and Scott Counties, in that order, with median prices some $17,000-$23,000 higher than Fayette County’s $275,000 median price.

Realtors said a lot of these surrounding counties are growing simply because there’s more land, which means more supply. You can also get more house for your buck.

New neighborhoods in Jessamine County are going up by the day, as more families look outside of Fayette County to put down roots.

“A lot of our agents’ buyers have expanded their searches because of not finding what they want in their initial search area. A lot of them are going out one county, two counties, three counties,” associate broker Sandy Allnutt said.

The new data from the LBAR shows how much median sale prices for homes have risen in the last year. Lee County saw the highest jump of 87%, and Woodford County saw the highest price at $308,000.

“What we’re seeing is that most of the homes are getting multiple offers and they’re selling in a number of days,” Allnutt said.

Allnutt said a draw to Jessamine County and other areas is the land availability. Larger lots and space are available, whereas land is becoming more limited in Lexington.

“When you go out a little bit to some of the surrounding counties, you have more space. You can have an acre or more,” Allnutt said.

It’s valuable land that is a big selling point, as communities around Lexington continue to grow.

It’s still hard to find homes in the $250,000 or less range in many of these counties. They usually go fast, and get multiple offers, which drive the prices up. There were just 20 in that range sold last month in Jessamine County.

There are counties here that have seen a price decrease in the last year, though, like Bath County, which saw the biggest drop in median prices at 58%. Then Rowan County, where the median price is $159,000.

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