IT COSTS LESS THESE DAYS TO LIVE IN ROANOKE AREA

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

DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993                   TAG: 9301210207
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
IT COSTS LESS THESE DAYS TO LIVE IN ROANOKE AREA
Living costs in the Roanoke Valley fell 3.5 percent in last year's third quarter from a year earlier, according to a new survey. The latest figures say the region has the second-lowest consumer costs among a half-dozen Virginia cities.
Lower costs for housing, transportation and health care helped pull the valley's composite index down to 93.4 points from 96.8 in 1991's third quarter. Slight increases were reported in the price of groceries, utilities and miscellaneous goods and services.
The index is based on prices for 59 items. Localities' figures are compared with a national average of 100 points, as compiled in the ACCRA, formerly the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association, Cost of Living Survey. Roanoke's data were compiled by the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership.
The Roanoke numbers are down 5 points from the first quarter of 1992, the last period for which the information is available.
One of the major changes was a 13 percent drop in the average selling price of an 1,800-square-foot house, from $115,600 in 1991 to $99,950 last year. One explanation for the change is that the most recent survey covered a wider segment of construction in the Roanoke Valley.
The cost of living index "is an integral part of our marketing program for the Roanoke Valley, said Elizabeth Doughty, executive director of the partnership.
The figures "prove what so many already know: that the Roanoke Valley is an economical place to live and work," she said. Doughty said she uses the survey in recruiting expanding companies to put operations in the valley.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB