Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 12, 1992 TAG: 9202120337
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
BUYING SPREE BOOSTS HOME PRICES
Despite a stalled national economy, consumers forced up the prices of homes at double-digit rates in 23 U.S. cities in last year's final quarter, a real estate trade group said Tuesday.The big increases occurred in inland cities, where housing often is less expensive than that in coastal metropolitan areas, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors.
Existing-home prices compared to the same quarter of 1990 rose in all but seven of the 117 metropolitan areas as falling mortgage rates triggered heavy demand, particularly in the lower price range.
In Virginia, the median resale price was $81,900 at the end of last year, up 17.8 percent over the fourth quarter of 1990. The only Virginia city included in the study was Richmond, where the median price rose 8.7 percent to $92,400, the NAR said.
Home buyers in Spokane, Wash., 300 miles from the Pacific coast, saw the median price soar 19 percent to $67,500. The typical price jumped 16.7 percent, to $72,700, in Baton Rouge, La., 100 miles from the Gulf coast, and 16.4 percent, to $58,300, in Peoria, Ill.
Prices fell 0.2 percent, to $119,500, in Providence, R.I., while rising just 1.1 percent, to $209,900, in Los Angeles on the other coast.
Regionally, the median price rose 7.9 percent, to $77,700, in the Midwest and 6.3 percent, to $88,400, in the South. Combined, that was nearly three times the meager 3.6 percent gain in the West, to $142,700, and 1.8 percent advance in the Northeast, to $137,300.
The national median for the fourth quarter was $99,000, 7.4 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 1990. Forty-five areas had price gains exceeding the national increase.
Sales increased in all four regions from fourth quarter to fourth quarter.
"When a lot of buyers start coming into the market at the same time, prices are going to move up," said Realtors economist John A. Tuccillo.
Dorcas T. Helfant of Virginia Beach, the Realtors president, said sales at the end of the year were concentrated in entry-level houses as first-time buyers took advantage of the lowest mortgage rates since 1973.
In most of the high-priced markets, prices either rose marginally or actually declined. Tuccillo said that meant much of the sales activity occurred "at the bottom."
\ MEDIAN PRICES
RICHMOND Up 8.7 percent to $92,400
CHARLESTON, W.VA. Up 12.3 percent to $66,800
BALTIMORE Up 10.8 percent to $113,300
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO Up 9.1 percent to $54,900.