THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994 TAG: 9406280296
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940628 LENGTH: Medium
Metro MLS, the statistical arm of the National Association of Realtors, said the number of contracts for May increased 13.4 percent to 1,690, worth $186.5 million. There were 1,490 for May 1993.
{REST} Nationally, home sales had declined overall due to the lower number of sales in the West, which offset gains in the Northeast and the South. Housing economists blame rising interest rates for the slide.
In Hampton Roads, home prices seem to strengthen along with the demand for houses. The average sales price in region was $107,644, up 3.6 percent from a year ago.
``I still feel the first-time home buyers are driving the market,'' said Darlene Lamb, president of Tidewater Association of Realtors. ``They're facilitating the move-up market. It's like an ecological chain. First-time home buyers are enabling the move-up market (of homeowners) to move from (houses worth) $100,000 to $150,000.''
Other local Realtors expressed optimism over the progress and character of the pending house sales. Listings in Great Neck and Kempsville disappear almost as soon as they go up because of the popularity of those areas. Great Bridge and Western Branch in Chesapeake also have seen much home-buying activity.
``There's still a need for a well-priced, good listing, a house in good condition in what people feel is a good area,'' said Richard B. Thurmond, president of William E. Wood & Associates.
Several people in the real estate industry believe the unstable nature of interest rates has prompted potential home-buyers and others teetering on the brink of selling into action.
``With the low rates from January on, they've spurred people on,'' said
Arthur Zachary of Womble Realty. ``A lot of the fence-sitters have been pushed off. The people who weren't sure about what decision to make have made that commitment to take advantage of the low rates. That's why we had such an impact in the first quarter.''
``The small surge in interest rates helps move people in a line toward sales. Interest rates may have crept up, but it has moved people into sales,'' Thurmond said.
Companies like Long and Foster, one of the largest residential realty firms in Virginia, reported sales for May up 4 percent and sales for the year so far up 7 percent, spokeswoman Juli Verrier said.
Nationally, rising interest rates seem to be having an opposite effect. The sale of previously owned homes dipped slightly in May.
The Realtors said sales totaled a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million, down from 4.12 million in April. It was the first decline since sales dropped to a 3.84 million rate in February when winter weather kept many shoppers inside.
Sales plunged 12.4 percent in the West in May, offsetting gains in the Northeast and South. Sales were unchanged in the Midwest. by CNB