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

DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994                   TAG: 9404190034
SECTION: HOMES                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MARCH HOME SALES UP BY 18.7%

Home sales in Virginia rose 18.7 percent in March as the spring market was given an extra push by rising mortgage interest rates. The Virginia Association of Realtors reported last week that its members wrote sales contracts on 6,949 houses last month, compared with 5,855 in March 1993. In the first quarter, VAR said, statewide home sales are up 13.3 perent, to 15,890 sales over year-earlier 14,022.

"The increase in interest rates that we've seen recently may be encouraging homebuyers who've been on the fence to make a purchase decision," said VAR president Edwin C. Hall, a Roanoke commercial realty broker.

by CNB