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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991                   TAG: 9103050121
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FAMILIES' ABILITY TO BUY WANES

Higher prices pushed down the ability of a typical family to buy an existing home in January for the first time in seven months despite improvements in mortgage rates and incomes, a real estate trade group said Monday.

The National Association of Realtors reported its Housing Affordability Index slipped to 114.4 points from 116.7 in December, the first drop since June. The December index was the highest since it registered 118.6 points in May 1977.

The January reading meant a family earning the national median income of $35,700 had 114.4 percent of the income needed to qualify for conventional financing covering 80 percent of a median-price home costing $94,200.

The Realtors said the median price of a home in January rose 2.7 percent from the previous month. The median means half of the homes cost more and half less.

But the median income rose $119 and mortgage rates fell from 9.84 percent to 9.8 percent in January. The differences meant a $15 a month increase in monthly payments.

The index rose in the South from 113.2 to 114.3 points. That meant a family there with a $32,191 income had 114.3 percent of the income needed to buy a home costing $84,300.

by CNB