June 30, 1984

The goal that has come to be known as the American dream has crossed a historic threshold: The average price of a new, single-family home broke into six figures in May, the Commerce Department said today. The average price was $101,000, up $5,100 just since April. As prices are rising, fewer Americans are buying homes. Last month, sales fell for the third month in a row. High interest rates are causing the drop, analysts agree, but they add that sales would be even lower if not for the proliferation of adjustable rate mortgages, which allow people to buy initially at less than market rates.

Argentina announced today that it had reached an agreement with international banks that gives the country a respite in its debt crisis. The accord came a day before a deadline for repaying overdue interest. The Government of President Raul Alfonsin has been moving to defuse the crisis by compromising with both the International Monetary Fund in Washington and militant unions at home over austerity measures to help repay the country's $45 billion debt, the developing world's third largest. Economics Minister Bernardo Grinspun said at a news conference today that Argentina would pay $225 million from its reserves to help pay off $350 million in interest that would become more than 90 days past due by this weekend. 45-Day Bridge Loan From Banks In return, a steering committee of 11 American, European and Japanese banks representing the country's private creditors would give Argentina a 45-day loan for $125 million to make up the difference due, Mr. Grinspun said. The banks also agreed to extend certain other loans, as did four Latin American nations that had lent $300 million.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson attempted today to rally support at the State Department and on Capitol Hill for intensified negotiations on Central America and Cuba. But Administration officials privately criticized his trip and suggested it might disrupt United States foreign policy. Mr. Jackson, speaking after he briefed about 50 members of Congress, asserted that his trip had produced tangible results, possibly paving the way for the eventual improvement of relations with the Governments in Cuba and Nicaragua. U.S.-Cuban Talks to Begin To bolster that view, Mr. Jackson announced that, according to Cuban officials, talks with the United States would begin in July on the migration of Cubans. He added that several members of the Congressional Black Caucus had expressed a willingness to retrace his six-day trip, including a meeting with Fidel Castro.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson's disavowal of the anti- Jewish statements made by Louis Farrakhan was regarded by Democratic leaders today as a major step toward redeeming his political standing in the party. But many privately expressed concern that serious damage might already have been inflicted on their efforts to halt an erosion of Jewish support. Spokesmen for a number of Jewish organizations joined Democratic leaders, including Walter F. Mondale, the party's expected Presidential nominee, in praising Mr. Jackson for his denunciation of Mr. Farrakhan's latest statements. Some Democrats said that the move had put Mr. Jackson on political probation and that his conduct in the coming weeks, especially at the Democratic National Convention next month, would determine whether he could rehabilitate himself within the party.

The conservative majority in El Salvador's Legislative Assembly has voted to end the most important remaining part of the country's land redistribution program. The vote Thursday, which had been expected, halted further extensions of the period in which small peasant farmers can apply to buy plots of land of less than 17.5 acres that they used to rent from landowners. The Land to the Tiller program was begun in late 1980 by military officers and represented the third phase of El Salvador's land redistribution effort, which is often referred to here as proof that political change can be achieved in the midst of civil war. Duarte's Party Sought Extension Salvadoran peasant unions and the Christian Democratic Party of President Jose Napoleon Duarte asked the Assembly Thursday to vote to extend the program indefinitely. But the four- party conservative coalition, which holds a majority in the legislature, defeated the proposal.