Here’s the message in short form: There may be an emerging disconnect between the homes that Lafayette builders want to build and the homes that Lafayette buyers want to buy.

Amid the good news in this month’s Multiple Listing Service is the fact that despite continuing soft spots in the oil and gas market, people are still buying homes here — a lot of homes. In fact, they’re buying them in greater numbers, faster and for more money than they did in 2014.

Here are the numbers: 1,616 homes sold in Lafayette, January to June, up from 1,555 in the same time period last year. On average, homes are selling in 94 days, down from 98 days in 2014. Buyers bought those homes for $374,328,739, up 10.96 percent from the $337,343,038 home buyers shelled out last year.

So what’s the problem? There’s none on the surface. More, quicker and pricier are ingredients for real estate success.

But the MLS report also showed that inventory — the number of available homes — is declining in the most popular bracket for home sales: $150,000 to $299,999. That’s where 62 percent of buyers were shopping and buying for the first six months of the year. That’s the trouble below the surface.

Active listings in that most-popular category have slipped by 17 percent. There’s a 3.1 month supply of homes in that category, barely half of what Bill Bacque, president of Van Eaton and Romero, said shows “equilibrium” in available housing. Last year there was 4.1 months supply of homes in that bracket at this stage of the year.

That means entry-level home buyers are caught short for what they can buy in this market.

Meanwhile, home sellers are continuing to offer their product in the $300,000 and up range, beyond the reach for most first-time buyers. The MLS shows that only 16.5 percent of sales were made in that range, while 39.4 percent of all active listings are advertising at $300,000 or more.

In none of the above $300,000 ranges is there less than a six-month supply of homes on the market. The supply is at 20 months or more in the $500,000 to $549,999, $700,000 to $799,999 and $800,000 to $8999,999 ranges.

“The scales are out of balance,” said Bacque, who serves as Multiple Listing Service chairman of the Realtor Association of Acadiana, and who sees a “squeeze” in home listings at the $150,000 and below range and too little offered in the “sweet spot” of $150,000 to $299,999.

The danger for Lafayette is that first-time home buyers and young families might look outside the parish boundaries for residences if they can’t find homes at the right price here. Land is cheaper in Vermilion Parish and public schools are performing well. It’s just a short drive on four lanes from Maurice to downtown Lafayette.