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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 29, 1994                   TAG: 9405300100
SECTION: HOMES                    PAGE: D-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

INTEREST RATES LIGHT FIRE UNDER POTENTIAL HOME BUYERS

Home sales rose 9.2 percent in Virginia last month, as rising interest rates spurred potential buyers, the Virginia Association of Realtors reported last week.

The trade association said its members reported writing sales contracts on 6,516 houses during April, compared with 6,442 in April 1993. In the first four months of this year, 22,406 homes have been sold, according to the association, or 1.1 percent more than the 20,513 pending sales reported in the corresponding period of 1993.

"Even though there's been an uptick in interest rates, it still is an excellent time to buy a house with interest rates in the single digits," said Edwin C. Hall, a Roanoke commercial realty broker and president of the Virginia Association of Realtors.

by CNB