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Ad Campaign Asks Congress to Keep Housing Upturn Going
In a full page advertisement running in inside-the-Beltway publications Roll Call, Politico and The Hill, NAHB last week stepped up its efforts to urge Congress to extend and expand the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit.
Under the advertising campaign, launched jointly with the National Association of Realtors® and the Mortgage Bankers Association, ads will also run in CQ Weekly and the National Journal this week.
The ad notes that the tax credit, which is due to expire on Nov. 30, is helping to move housing and the economy forward by increasing home sales and reducing the inventory of foreclosures that are sitting on the market and depressing prices.
NAHB is urging Congress to extend the tax credit for an additional year and make it available to all buyers of a principal home, within certain income limitations.
Adopting this proposal would increase new and existing home sales by 383,000 and home starts by 82,000, according to economists at NAHB. It would create more than 347,000 jobs and generate more than $16 billion in wages and $12 billion in business income, yielding $8 billion in federal taxes and $3 billion for states and localities. The cost to the federal government would be about $30 billion.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, more than 1.4 million tax payers have claimed a first-time home buyer tax credit since it became available in February. That number does not include sales by existing home owners who were able to sell their home to a tax-credit buyer, which in turn enabled them to buy another home.
With only 75 days left as of Sept. 17 until the current credit expires, builders have been advising prospective buyers that there still may be enough time to qualify, but time is of the essence.
Click here for NAHB resources geared to helping association members and home builders associations understand and promote the tax credit — including fact sheets, Web site ads, consumer brochures and more.
NAHB has also been coordinating an ongoing series of local media teleconferences around the country aimed at increasing public awareness of the need for Congress to move quickly on stimulating housing and the nation’s economy.
To learn how they can participate in the “Revive Housing, Restore America” campaign, NAHB members should visit www.nahb.org/ReviveHousingNow.
Members of the general public can go to www.ReviveHousingNow.com to find information on how to contact their lawmakers and ask them to extend the tax credit.
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