
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003023022
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: staff and wire report
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HOME SALES HIGHER IN ROANOKE VALLEY

The burst of good weather in the Roanoke area is one of the reasons given by the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors for healthy February sales, which beat January and February 1989.

Contracts were signed on 380 homes last month for a total volume of $30,886,620, said Frances Bridge, spokesman for the Multiple Listing Service division of the association.

Bridge said an "unsettled financial market with rates and points bouncing around" likely has encouraged people to go ahead with purchase plans rather than wait for the unknown. January sales were 334. Sales in February a year ago were 333.

The median price of houses sold last month in the Roanoke area was $74,600.

At the same time, higher prices and mortgage rates dampened the ability of the typical American family to buy a house in January, the National Association of Realtors said.

The group said its affordability index fell to 104.2 in January, meaning that a family earning the national median income of $33,708 had 104.2 percent of the income needed to qualify for a median priced home costing $96,200.

by CNB