NPR: Would Extending Home Buyer Credit Be Worth It?

Two stories from NPR. Click in the links to read or listen to the stories.

clipped from www.npr.org by Chris Arnold Many first-time home buyers are scrambling to pick a house and close the deal by Nov. 30, the deadline for an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homeowners. A lot of real estate agents think the tax-credit program has been a huge success and are urging Congress to extend it. But not every economist is convinced it's a great idea. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. STEVE INSKEEP, host: And I'm Steve Inskeep. Now that the Federal government's fiscal year has ended, we can have a look at the bill. The deficit hit $1.4 trillion in the year ending in September. That number shatters all records.

Debate Over Homebuyer Tax Credit Heats Up

clipped from www.npr.org But not if lawmakers like Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) can help it. Isakson — a former real estate executive himself — wants to extend the tax credit, increase its size and make it more widely available. The National Association of Realtors is backing that idea. "We'd like to see it extended through 2010. In fact, we'd like to see it expanded to all buyers — not investors, not people buying second homes. But to people buying a home to live in," says NAR spokesman Walter Molony. "Certainly there's a cost to the Treasury in offering this. But the economic benefit — it gives you a pretty good bang for the buck." "Four out of 5 of the buyers were given $8,000 for doing something they were going to do anyway," says Andrew Jakabovics, associate director of housing and economics at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank closely aligned with the Obama administration. "While there are stimulative effects, it's a very costly credit."