Roanoke housing market doing well amid slowing rising mortgage rates

Roanoke housing market doing well amid slowing rising mortgage rates ROANOKE, Va. - Nationally, mortgage rates are slowly going up but that's not the case here in our region. Roanoke's real estate market is actually in what's called a neutral market right now. It's not a buyer's or a seller's market but thanks to growing consumer confidence and a high demand for homes, it could soon be good for sellers! "We're still around 4 percent interest rates, it's between 3 and ¾ and 4 and a quarter," Berkshire Hathaway broker, Tom Wilson, told Your Hometown News Leader. Good news for potential buyers and here in our region, the upward trend won't really affect the market. "The anticipation that I'm hearing is about another quarter of a point." The latest index says mortgage rates nationally could hit 5 percent, but locally the market is expected to flourish. "Price increases have been significantly higher in other areas than they have been here although the anticipation is we'll see about a 5 percent increase in prices by the end of this year." And with an abundance of homes to choose from, seller's could soon cash in. "I think we're heading more towards a seller's market maybe later this Spring. Listings are down, the number of listings are down, buyers are up." Realtors and brokers say the Roanoke Valley is unique because it tends to buck potentially unstable housing trends. "Our economy here is basically based on medical, retail, banking and insurance `and those are more stable. We don't see the huge swings up or the huge swings down," said Wilson. Encouraging news for what Wilson says is sure to be a good year for the market as a whole.