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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 25, 1995                   TAG: 9503270039
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MORTGAGE RATES EASING DOWNWARD

To the surprise of some experts, mortgage interest rates have fallen - to 8.4 percent for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan this week - and probably will stay about at that level or rise only slightly in the coming months, said Robert Van Order, chief economist for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

This decline, about three-quarters of a percentage point since early January, could mean that more people will be able to buy homes this year than builders and economists had expected.

``The general feeling is that not much is happening to inflation and that a reasonable recovery is under way, the consumer price index is still not growing fast and there's very little evidence of wage pressure,'' Van Order said.

David A. Lereah, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, also said he expects mortgage rates to hover in the 8.3 percent to 8.5 percent level where they are now. He predicted ``a favorable interest-rate environment'' for the next six months, but fears rates will inch up after that.

- The Washington Post

by CNB