Yes, Roanoke, there is a local market for half-million-dollar homes and higher.

Demand for expensive living in the Roanoke Valley is growing, local real estate agents and builders say. More buyers are snatching up homes valued at $500,000 and more.

Large developments, such as Winn- brook in Southwest Roanoke County, are sprouting some homes valued at more than $800,000.

Business executives, health care professionals and members of the financial and banking communities are leading the drive for high-end home buying, real estate agents said. Retirees also are part of the mix.

Many of these people have moved to Roanoke from larger cities. Some already live here and want to move up.

"The market is ready for these kinds of homes," said Mary Dykstra, an agent with Remax Realtors.

High-dollar homes are in the spotlight in part because of a proposed upscale subdivision planned for a 50-acre parcel off Peakwood Drive. "Wilton in South Roanoke" will include 54 to 66 villas and estate homes, starting at $500,000.

"There's never been anything like it in Roanoke," said Alexander Boone, a manager with Boone, Boone & Loeb, the company planning the development. "And I don't believe that there will ever be anything like it."

The project is not without controversy. Many South Roanoke residents who live near or on Peakwood Drive are angry that the development's entrance is planned off of Peakwood. And residents in the blue-collar Southern Hills neighborhood adjacent to the Wilton property aren't happy about construction traffic rumbling through their area.

Boone said more than a dozen people already have inquired about buying homes at Wilton. He said his company wants to sell 12 homes there a year.

"We believe that with the beauty of the community and the landscaping and the architecture, Wilton in South Roanoke will capture a strong percent of that $500,000 market," Boone said.

For Boone, that market segment is growing.

From 2001 to 2003, Boone, Boone & Loeb sold 111 homes for more than $500,000 in the Roanoke Valley. At the end of July, the company so far this year had sold 39 homes for more than $500,000.

Regional home sales statistics also suggest that sales of homes for $300,000 or more have been getting a larger piece of the market pie over the past several years.

Dykstra said the high home prices cause some sticker shock.

"For those of us who have been here, we think 'Wow,'" Dykstra said. "But we have folks coming in from other areas where these don't sound like high prices."

It's not surprising that people can afford expensive homes here, said Robert Stauffer, a business professor at Roanoke College and president of Stauffer Consulting.

"We are a regional center in medical care and in banking and finance and in government," he said. "There are high-paying jobs here. Overall prosperity has been good."

According to 2003 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, surgeons in the Roanoke metropolitan statistical area had an average yearly income of $166,990. Chief executives made $109,040. Personal financial analysts made $79,110, according to the data.

Huge gains in home equity also have led people to buy upscale homes.

As mortgage rates remain low and the housing boom of recent years has sent home values soaring, many people are selling their homes and using the equity to buy nicer, more expensive houses, Dykstra said.

"This is a wonderful market that has benefited everyone," she said. "People are realizing that their homes are worth more than they thought. It may be time to move that equity out and move up."

Couples ages 45 to 64 make up the population segment with the highest incomes in the Roanoke metropolitan statistical area, said Ted Koebel, director of the Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech.

Koebel said 20 percent of the households in that age bracket have yearly incomes of more than $100,000.

The Roanoke Valley's housing wealth is centered in that group, he said.

The Wilton development "isn't being built for the first-time home buyer market," Koebel said. "This is being built for the middle-aged person. If you're a middle-aged professional, you've probably done well in the last 10 to 15 years. That's the strength of the market they are looking for."

This population segment is growing, too. Koebel said it is projected to increase from 18,330 to 24,000 households through 2020.