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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994                   TAG: 9402210348
SECTION: HOMES                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

AS TEMPERATURES DIP, SO DO HOME SALES IN VIRGINIA

Homes sales in Virginia dropped 3.7 percent in January compared with year-earlier figures, the Virginia Association of Realtors reported last week.

The trade organization reported its members wrote contracts on 3,995 new and existing homes last month, compared with 4,149 houses sold in January 1993.

"These figures are typical for January, which is generally a slow month for home purchases, said Edwin C. Hall, a Roanoke commercial real estate broker and president of the Virginia Association of Realtors.

"The extreme weather we experienced in January could also have been a factor in the decrease," he said.

Hall predicted that moderate mortgage interest rates would revive the housing market later in the year.

- Staff report

by CNB