REAL ESTATE

Rise in Housing Values Slows: Rising mortgage rates curbed demand for existing homes last year and sharply trimmed increases in housing values, according to a report by the National Assn. of Realtors. The trade group said only 80 of the 133 metropolitan areas in its survey posted year-over-year gains in median home prices in the fourth quarter. Nationally, the median price of an existing home in the final three months of 1994 was $107,900, just 0.8% above the same period a year earlier. The median is the midpoint, meaning half the homes cost more and half cost less. In Los Angeles, the median home price fell in the fourth quarter to $181,500, down 6.8% from a year earlier, while in Anaheim it edged up 0.1% to $215,000. It fell 3.6% in Riverside to $127,200. In San Diego, it fell to $170,400, down 3.6%, while rising 2.5% in San Francisco to $254,500.