CONGRESSMAN PETERS CALLS FOR EXTENSION OF FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT
$8,000 Credit, Which Is Helping Home Sales Rebound, Is Set to Expire at the End of Next Month
Washington, D.C. – October 21, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Gary Peters today urged House leadership to extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit, a measure enacted in February that saves new homebuyers thousands of dollars and has helped the U.S. housing market rebound in recent months. The credit is set to expire November 30th. Congressman Peters, along with a bipartisan group of colleagues, today sent a letter (text below) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner expressing their desire to extend the credit’s deadline.
According to the IRS, more than 55,000 Michiganders had used the credit to buy homes as of Aug. 22. Realtors report the credit is boosting home sales nationally, with three straight months of rising home values and the largest month-to-month gain in home sales occurring in the months following the credit’s enactment.
“Southeast Michigan foreclosure rates are among the highest in the nation, so encouraging the purchase of empty homes is particularly important for our region,” said Rep. Peters. “This provision of the economic recovery act gives middle class families a tax break and helps bolster the housing market, the sector where this recession began. An extension of the first-time homebuyer tax credit is common sense and should be something on which both parties can agree.”
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic recovery plan Congress enacted in February, created a temporary tax credit worth up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers to help families become homeowners in a tough economy and to spur home sales in a sluggish housing market. Anyone who has not owned a home for the last three years qualifies as a “first-time homebuyer.”
Earlier this month, Congressman Peters supported, and the House passed, a one-year extension of the tax credit for members of the military who served out of the country for 90 days or more in 2009.
“Servicemen and women should not be penalized for serving our nation abroad,” Rep. Peters said. “While I want to see this tax credit extended for all new homebuyers, at the very least the brave Americans defending our nation who were unable to take advantage of the credit this year should have more time to do so.”
Below is the text of the bipartisan letter to House leadership.
Click here to see a PDF image of the signed letter.
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Minority Boehner,
We write to you today in bipartisan agreement that the homebuyer tax credit should be extended. The federal government has pursued many avenues to ensure our economy can recover from the worst recession of our lives. Few efforts, however, have been as successful as the incentive given to first-time homebuyers.
Since the tax credit was expanded in February, we have seen house sales rise and glimpses of price stabilization. From April through July, we saw three straight months rising homes prices of single family homes. The numbers of homes sales rose 11 percent from May to June, the largest gain in eight years. In September, conservative economist Mark Zandi predicted the tax credit will contribute to 400,000 home sales and the Campbell Institute released a study concluding the tax credit contributed to 357,000 home sales between February and September of this year.
While these are positive signs for the housing market, the reality is that it remains extremely fragile. Home prices still remain 15 percent lower than a year ago and first-time homebuyers continue to make up a third of all buyers. At a time when billions are being offered to troubled financial institutions and mortgage rates remain borrower friendly, nothing is restoring confidence in the market like the first-time homebuyer tax credit. Yet, with an average closing time of three months, many potential homebuyers nearly out of time to use the credit – and an extension is needed for the credit to maximize its impact for both homebuyers and our housing market.
While many of us have our own ideas of how to improve or expand the homebuyer tax credit, we can all agree that action is urgently needed on the credit before it expires at the end of November. As the House leadership prioritizes legislative action on provisions that will expire this year, we ask that you give full consideration to the homebuyer tax credit. We look forward to working with you to stabilize our nation’s housing market and strengthen our economy.
Sincerely,
Cosigners of the letter (165 total—Republicans in Italic): Abercrombie, Aderholt, Adler, Andrews, Arcuri, Austria, Baca, Baldwin, Barrow, Bean, Berman, Berry, Bilbray, Bilirakis, Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Blunt, Boccieri, Bono Mack, Boozman, Bordallo, Boswell, Braley, Bright, Broun, Brown (SC), Buchanan, Burton, Capito, Cardoza, Carnahan, Carter, Chandler, Childers, Chu, Clarke, Clay, Cleaver, Coble, Connolly, Costa, Costello, Cuellar, Culberson, Cummings, Davis (CA), Davis (IL), Davis (TN), Dreier, Driehaus, Duncan, Ehlers, Ellsworth, Engel, Filner, Fleming, Foster, Fudge, Gordon, Grayson, Griffith, Guthrie, Hall (NY), Halvorson, Hare, Hastings, Hill, Hodes, Holt, Hunter, Israel, Johnson (Eddie Bernice), Jones, Kagen, Kildee, Kilroy, King (NY), Kissel, Kratovil, Lance, Larsen, Latham, LaTourette, Lee (NY), Loebsack, Lofgren, Lummis, Mack, Maffei, Maloney (NY), Manzullo, Markey (MA), Massa, McCarthy (NY), McCaul, McGovern, McIntyre, McMahon, McNerney, Meeks, Michaud, Miller (Gary), Miller (Jeff), Murphy (CT), Nadler, Nye, Olson, Olver, Pallone, Paul, Paulsen, Payne, Perriello, Peters, Pingree, Posey, Putnam, Quigley, Rahall, Rehberg, Richardson, Roe, Rogers (KY), Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ryan (OH), Salazar, Scalise, Schakowsky, Schauer, Scott (GA), Scott (VA), Sensenbrenner, Sestak, Sherman, Shuler, Simpson, Sires, Skelton, Smith (NJ), Souder, Space, Stearns, Stupak, Sutton, Terry, Thompson (PA), Tiberi, Tierney, Titus, Towns, Tsongas, Turner, Upton, Van Hollen, Walden, Wamp, Wasserman Schultz, Welch, Westmoreland, Wexler, Wilson (SC), Young (FL),
