Christiansburg, Claytor Lake, and Radford, all New River Valley towns in Virginia, are showing record housing sales, says a local Realtor.

"The real estate market in the New River Valley has had spectacular year," says Realtor Bart Castleberry. "We have seen a record number of sales this year. Some of this has been due to the low interest rates, but we are also lucky to have a strong and diverse economy in this area. At the end of the year I expect that statistics will show a significant increase in the average home prices in the New River Valley."

Castleberry explains, "According to many local lenders refinances dropped off significantly early in the last quarter of 2003. A large portion of the banks' business over the last couple years has been refinances. If you received any type of home loan in the past year or so, you probably experienced how busy they were. I expect to see a thinning in the ranks of lending institutions and increased competition for the remaining business in the coming year unless rates drop significantly, which is unlikely."

Lending is still impacting housing sales, too. "Some new lending programs I have been introduced to over the last month are very attractive," says Castleberry. "Interest rates have been quite low for quite some time. At this time rather than being a major force in driving our market, I feel they are just one of the contributing factors to the strong market. Most lenders think that rates will hold steady through the first part of 2004. With the election looming later in the year I don't expect to see significant changes, but even if they went up a bit, which they will do eventually, they will still be excellent rates."

He's still surprised at how well the New River Valley market is doing. "Locally our market has been great in comparison to past years," observes Castleberry. "Even the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas has been busier than usual. At this time of year there are always fewer houses on the market and fewer buyers, however this year both the sellers and the buyers appear to be serious, motivated and ready! As in most years, I expect January will be a good month, many new listings will come on the market. Motivated buyers and sellers will be ready after the holidays. After January, I expect the market to steadily increase through the year. The indicators I have seen point to this being another great year. I also expect see a higher than normal number of people relocating to the New River Valley to fill positions in local industry and higher education. We will see a number of people leaving the area as there are a few industries reorganizing or shutting down operations most notably the textiles in Pulaski County and foundry in Radford. Overall, I expect our local economy to increase significantly in 2004."