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

DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994                   TAG: 9408260046
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

HOME SALES DOWN FOR 3RD MONTH

Sales of existing homes fell for the third straight month in July as demand for housing continued to be hurt by rising interest rates, a real estate trade group said Thursday.

The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing single-family homes dipped 0.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.95 million.

Since January, sales of previously owned homes have fallen in five out of seven months as demand has been hurt by rising interest rates triggered when the Federal Reserve began tightening credit to ward off inflationary pressures.

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported that the average commitment rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was 8.62 percent in July, up from 8.43 percent in June.

Still, industry executives noted that the July sales pace is 2.6 percent higher than it was a year ago and that, even with the rise in rates, mortgages are at relatively low levels, especially when compared to the mid-1980s.

``Even with fluctuations in mortgage rates, we are on track for the second-best year on record for existing single-family home sales,'' said Robert H. Elrod, president of the Realtors group.

The national median price for an existing single-family home was $111,500 in July, down 1.2 percent from a median price of $112,800 in June. The median is the midpoint where half the homes cost more and half cost less.

by CNB