WASHINGTON, DC - The effect and future of the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit is the big question looming over the housing market and any stats that point to a rebound on it. Where would the housing market be without it? Realtors are apparently to afraid to find out. Instead, they want the credit to be much bigger and longer:
The real estate industry, including the powerful 1.1 million-member National Association of Realtors, wants Congress to extend the credit at least through next summer. The group hopes to expand the program to $15,000 and to allow all buyers, not just those who have been out of the market for at least three years, to qualify. The price tag on that plan: $50 billion to $100 billion.
Joseph and Chassity Myers are among the two million buyers eligible for the credit this year. The newlyweds heard they could get money from the government for something they were tempted to do anyway.
"It was a no-brainer," said Mr. Myers, a commercial underwriter. "Owning something is the American family dream."
Ah, subsidies for homeownership, more cheap money, and nonsensical rhetoric about the American family dream. Sure, why not?
Of course, if we do this, then at the end of next summer, we'll really be looking down the edge of a housing cliff. So the only logical action will be to extend the credit and expand it again.
Source: BusinessInsider.com