BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Baton Rouge-area home sales rose 12 percent in September. That's according to figures released by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors.

Realtors sold 698 homes in the eight-parish metro area, compared with 622 that month the year before.

Dollar volume rose 21 percent to $137.3 million.

For the year, the metro area is up 14 percent to 5,820 homes sold. Dollar volume is up 14 percent for the year to $1.12 billion.

David McKey, of Coldwell Banker One, tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/QqW7g7 ) low mortgage rates — below 4 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan — continue to keep buyers interested, and consumer confidence and falling unemployment figures have people a little more at ease.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com