Senate Newcomers Urge Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension

A group of five newly elected senators is urging Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., to extend the $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit through the end of this calendar year. The tax section of the economic stimulus bill approved by the Finance Committee allows the tax credit to expire after June 30, 2009. The number of existing homes for sale is nearly three times the normal inventory and "it will take time to move this high volume of homes on an already sluggish market," according to the group of freshmen Democratic senators, which includes Jeanne Shaheen, N.H; Tom Udall, N.M.; Kay Hagan, N.C.; Mark Begich, Ark.; and Mark Udall, Colo. "We believe that extending the tax credit until the end of 2009 will encourage aspiring and qualified homebuyers to come off the sidelines and carve heavily into the nine-month inventory," the five freshmen say in a letter to Sen. Baucus. The Senate is expected to vote on the $900 billion economic stimulus bill this week.