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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990                   TAG: 9004030283
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOUSING SALES DIP

After strong February sales that bested February 1989 by 14 percent, Roanoke Valley home sales in March fell behind February's sales and also behind March a year ago.

Members of the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors got contracts on 345 homes in March. February contracts were 380 and March 1989 contracts were 354.

Frances Bridge, spokesman for Multiple Listing Service, the statistical division of the association, said the 345 sales totaling $34,331,768 included a large number of buyers trading up. The median price for the month was $77,500. The median a year ago was $60,419.

February 1990 sales in the Roanoke Valley were 380 compared with 333 in February a year ago, but the year-to-date figures showed contracts on 515 houses in the January-February period versus contracts for 599 the same period last year, a drop of 14 percent. The MLS figures include only sales by members of the association.

Throughout the state, February sales lagged behind 1989 in most markets, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors. February is the latest month for which figures are available statewide.

Home sales in the New River Valley are off 16 percent so far this year and February sales were off 45 percent, with 46 sales recorded last month and 84 in February 1989.

Ed Fast, president of the New River Valley Board of Realtors, said he hoped the high-value homes expected to come on the market because of plant cutbacks or closings won't all be for sale at one time.

"I hope they will enter the market gradually," he said. Fast said he understands that AT&T will try to schedule the homes for sale over several months. He said at least 24 homes in the $200,000-plus range are expected to be put up for sale.

The New River Valley has been hit recently with layoffs and announcements of plant closings, factors that contribute to an unstable housing market.

Northern Virginia, where the housing market has been in a decline, showed sales off 24 percent for 1990 so far, and 27 percent ahead of the same month last year.

Sales figures in other areas: Martinsville-Henry County, flat with last year's; Charlottesville, up 27 percent for the period but down slightly for the month; Danville, off 21 percent for the period and 32 percent for the month; Lynchburg, down 24 percent for the period and 20 percent for the month.

In Virginia, sales for both the month and the year to date fell 13 percent; sales for the month were 5,398, against 6,191, and for the period 10,223, against 11,780.

by CNB