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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 26, 1992                   TAG: 9203260121
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FEBRUARY HOME SALES SURGE TO 3-YEAR HIGH

Buyers rushed into the existing-home market to take advantage of low mortgage rates in February, pushing sales to their highest level in three years, a real estate trade group said Wednesday.

Sales of previously owned homes jumped 9.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.52 million in February, up from 3.22 million a month earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.

All regions of the country posted gains.

The February sales rate was the highest since it reached 3.62 million in January 1989. The pace was the steepest since a 12.2 percent gain in January 1983.

In the Roanoke Valley, 286 new and existing houses sold in February, up 61 percent from 178 a year earlier, the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors reported this month. February's total was 17 percent ahead of 245 sales in January.

"People who had been watching to see how low rates would go came off the fence as soon as rates started inching up," said Dorcas T. Helfant of Virginia Beach, the national Realtors president. "The risk of future increases convinced them it was time to make their move."

Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose from 8.67 percent at the beginning of February to 8.83 percent at month's end, according to surveys by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

Since then, rates have risen to more than 9 percent. They had reached a low of 8.23 percent during the week ending Jan. 10.

Helfant said there had been some concern that prospective buyers would postpone purchases until they learned whether Congress would enact President Bush's proposed tax credit for first-time home buyers.

But "buyers seemed much more interested in getting a good mortgage rate than waiting for a tax credit to be enacted," she said.

Realtors economist John A. Tuccillo said unusually mild weather also contributed to the February surge.

The Realtors said trade-up buyers have begun to join first-time buyers who had dominated existing sales activity in recent months.

The demand for homes in the higher price ranges boosted the median price to $103,800, 9.3 percent higher than a year earlier. The median means half of the homes cost more and half cost less.

Sales in the South rose 8.8 percent, to 1.24 million units. The median price was $92,000.

by CNB