Rate Dips Cheer Area's Realtors: Rate Declines Turn Realtors Into Optimists
;ÐÊ /After nearly two years, the housing .industry here has stopped banging its Û÷ 'Brad against mortgage interest rates JL above 15 percent. And industry officials / certainly are happy about it. r ; ÛÏIÛªm expecting a surprisingly strong</br></br>;ÐÊ /After nearly two years, the housing .industry here has stopped banging its Û÷ 'Brad against mortgage interest rates JL above 15 percent. And industry officials / certainly are happy about it. r ; ÛÏIÛªm expecting a surprisingly strong Û¢	yearÛªÛª in 1983, ÛÏ said G. V. (Mike) Bren-, neman, outgoing president of the Wash-: ington Board of Realtors.</br></br>, ÛÏI think everybody is optimistic,Û said ; Jphn OÛªKeefe, head of the Montgomery - County Board of Realtors.</br></br>1 The buoyant notes sounded by brokers ! and builders all around the Washington ; area are echos of the sales boom that has ÐÊ swept the coujntry since interest rates . began declining last August. Nationally, Ûª as 1982 ended, single-family homes were . selling at an annual rate of more than 2 ; millionÛÓfor the first time since August 1981ÛÓand housing starts were on the upswing. Industry leaders were beginning : to talk of housing ÛÏleading the nation out ! of recession.Û ÛÏWe have seen an upturn in sales that ; started in August. While itÛªs been stronger in the suburbs than downtown, itÛªs starting to take hold downtown, too,Û I said Brenneman. ÛÏThat pent-up demand Û÷ weÛªve been hearing about is starting to express itself.Û</br></br>The resurgence is not limited to singlefamily homes, according to Brenneman. Condominium sales, too, are picking up, v to a great extent because syndicates are buying them to put into the rental market, he said.